Ewen Jones (Herbert, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Member for Bass, how many people in Tasmania have a job, mate? Over the past year, we have seen a raft of industrial action in which people have not played by the rules. The last thing that we need right now is to abolish the watchdog responsible for ensuring that either side in an industrial dispute does not get away with underhanded tactics. The construction industry has a bleak history in this area in Australia. A tough commissioner was needed to clean this up and the ABCC has done that. Under their watch, productivity in the construction industry has increased by 10 per cent and inflation has reduced by 1.2 per cent. Replacing this with a new weaker inspectorate threatens to return the industry to the bad old days of devious union activity that hurts business and the economy.

On top of that, unlike the independent ABCC the new building inspectorate will be controlled by the minister. Everybody knows that independence is critical to ensuring that any workplace relations body is fair and balanced. That has played a big part in why the ABCC has been so successful. This bill will also allow for ABCC powers to be switched off on specific work sites. Absurd as it sounds, this means that unions will be able to try and have the law simply not apply to that workplace.

Townsville is a rapidly growing city and as such its construction industry is a key part of the local economy and the local community. The city is continuously expanding as new homes and new suburbs are built to cater for the population growth while the opportunities in the North Queensland economy have led to a number of business construction projects as well. Changes that threaten the construction industry have big consequences for the city. I have been speaking to builders across Townsville and I have heard their concerns about these changes.

Darrell Gribble of Liveconstruction lamented the burden of overregulation on the industry and the effect that it has on their ability to their job. I have listened to people express concerns about the risk that a weaker industry watchdog poses in terms of expanding the access of unions to workplaces and the impact that this will have on their work and on their productivity. Adrian Gabrielli of Gabrielli Constructions told me how worried he and other builders are about the consequences for their workplaces and about the impact that these changes will have on construction costs. Only trouble can come when you do not have a policeman on the watch. As he pointed out, all big businesses have had to bend to unreasonable demands issued by unions and this change will just give them more scope to wield their power, leaving building companies at their mercy. The system that we have at the moment has kept fairness in the building industry while allowing businesses to do their jobs instead of coming up against unions intent on stirring up trouble rather than raising genuine issues.

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