Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says a Labor MP will face no further punishment after he was fined more than $20,000 for his role in registering hundreds of people as union members without their knowledge.
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Federal Court Justice Debra Mortimer on Tuesday fined upper house MP Cesar Melhem $20,590 for breaching union membership laws between 2008 and 2013, while he was state secretary of the AWU.
During the five-year period, 730 workers from five companies were made members of the AWU by their employers, who handed over $488,008 to the union.
But the overwhelming majority of these workers were signed up without their knowledge, in a breach of union rules.
Opposition leader Michael O'Brien says the fine shows Mr Melhem isn't fit to sit in the upper house.
"He has frankly no place in the parliament," he told reporters on Wednesday.
"It just shows the ethical decay of this Andrews' Labor government."
But Mr Andrews has suggested he plans to take no further action against the MP.
"This was a civil matter, and the matter has been settled essentially, and a fine has been paid," he told reporters.
"As far as I'm concerned, that's the end of the matter."
Australian Associated Press
