New laws to clip Qld union's wings

Queensland's Attorney-General will introduce new laws to make all businesses associated with unions ballot members before spending big on campaigns.

Queensland unions will no longer be able to exploit a loophole which allows them to bypass tough new campaign spending laws.

The public service union Together believed it had outsmarted the government by setting up a corporation in June.

It allowed it to circumvent new laws which required the state's 34 unions to ballot members if they want to spend more $10,000 on a political campaign.

But, not to be outdone, Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie announced he'd introduce amendments on Tuesday to close off the loophole.

He says the laws were designed to empower members, and the corporation meant fewer members would be in control of spending.

"We put these laws in place to give the hardworking, grassroots members a say on how their industrial organisations are run," he said.

Union secretary Alex Scott isn't surprised the government is going further to stop workers speaking out on issues.

He says the laws are impractical and puts the brakes on free speech.

"The government is using every piece of legislation it can to try to stop the truth getting out there," he said.

"All they want to do is control the message rather than fix the problems."


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Source: AAP


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