Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

I can report to the member for Deakin, who has a great interest in this matter, that all states and territories have now agreed to sign the national code for the building and construction industry. This means that some $12.7 billion worth of AusLink funding will now flow to important infrastructure projects right around Australia.

I remind the House that the national code is a set of principles which prescribe best practice in respect of a number of things: workplace relations; occupational health and safety; procurement; and security of payment. The national code also upholds freedom of association, right of entry and the promotion of best practice in relation to standards of honesty and fair dealing in the building and construction industry.

In addition to this, all state government projects which receive Commonwealth funding will also comply with the code in the future. That means that we have a much better chance of eliminating the rorts and inefficiencies that have existed in this industry in the past and of ensuring that taxpayers’ money is saved on major construction projects.

In contrast to what the Commonwealth has sought to do—and the states have finally paid up—we have seen just in the last day or so some further instances where state government projects which do not comply and had not complied with the building construction code in the past have led to major imposts in terms of the outcome. For example, in the Australian newspaper yesterday, it is reported that Grocon, the builder responsible for the redevelopment of the MCG in Melbourne where the Commonwealth Games will largely occur in a few weeks time, is suing for some $50 million in relation to a cost blow-out because of a failure to comply with the sorts of things which are in the building construction code. We also read in the same article that Leighton Holdings, the builders of the new Southern Cross Station in Melbourne, are also seeking some $54 million from the state government in Victoria, again because of a failure to ensure that we had a lawful system operating.

This is not just isolated to Victoria and the Labor government of Victoria. In Western Australia we had a report yesterday, this time in the West Australian newspaper, that Leightons are also seeking claims against the state Labor government in Western Australia for cost blow-outs on the Perth to Mandurah railway line, which have reached almost $300 million.

Putting this code in place and having the Labor states and territories sign up to it means that we will have a better chance in the future of eliminating the sorts of debacles which I have illustrated today. The irony is that, after each Labor state and territory government has signed up to the national code, there is only one Labor Party in Australia that now does not support the national code. Which Labor Party would that be? None other than the federal Labor Party.

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