CANBERRA, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- The Australian government has been dealt a significant blow after its signature laws aimed at cracking down on unions were defeated in the Senate on Thursday night.
In a shocking development, One Nation Party (ONP) and independent Senator Jacqui Lambie joined forces with the opposition Australian Labor Party to deny the governing Liberal-National party (LNP) coalition the votes it needed to pass Ensuring Integrity Bill.
Labor senators erupted into cheers when ONP senators Pauline Hanson and Malcolm Roberts crossed the floor to oppose the bill while Mathias Cormann and Anne Ruston, senior Senate coalition leaders, were left visibly shocked.
Hanson, leader of ONP, had initially indicated she would support the bill and had repeatedly voted with the government, but it was until the final vote that she delivered the fatal blow.
"Senator Hanson and Senator Roberts, the two One Nation senators voted with us all throughout the week on every contested vote in relation to time management, in relation to amendments - every single vote until the last one," Cormann told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
"And you know we were absolutely blindsided and taken by surprise with that final vote."
If passed, the bill would have given the government the power to deregister unions and disqualify officials who breached workplace laws.
Hanson said that allegations earlier in November that Westpac Banking Corporation, Australia's second largest bank, breached anti-money laundering and counter terror finance laws 23 million times, was a factor in her decision.
"I don't have to tell the government which way I'm voting, never did," she said.
Hanson said the unions need to "clean up your act" and the government needs to "clean up the white collar crime."
The defeat of the bill has been hailed as a victory by the Labor Party.
"These were extreme laws that would have given the government unprecedented powers, unparalleled anywhere in the developed world, to sack union officials and shut down entire unions for minor breaches," said Tony Burke, Labor's industrial relations spokesman, according to The Guardian.
Christian Porter, the attorney-general and industrial relations minister, released a statement vowing to reintroduce the laws.
