Adam Bandt, Green member of the House of Representatives, gave his maiden speech in federal Parliament yesterday, and singled out the unions who had supported his campaign for the seat of Melbourne – the United Firefighters Union, the Electrical Trades Union, the Communications Electrical and Plumbing Union, the Australian Institute of Marine and Power Engineers, and the MSAV – for special mention.

Adam said to the unions which had taken a ‘big leap to support me and the Greens, your commitment to principle and to real change for the benefit of your members is humbling…’ and to the MSAV “who were prepared to objectively analyse the policies of the parties and put that information in front of their members, I thank you”.

We would add the VPA and the AHP to that list.

Adam also said in relation to the Australian Building and Construction Commission, where building workers are denied the right to silence, interrogated in secret and exposed to threats of imprisonment and fines, ‘when members of one section of the workforce have not just fewer rights than other workers but indeed are worse off than accused criminals, we can’t say that we are all truly equal before the law’.

You can read the full text of the speech here, or watch the video.

http://adam-bandt.greensmps.org.au/content/first-speech-house-representatives