Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to oppose the Building and Construction Industry (Improving Productivity) Bill 2013 and to support the amendment that has been circulated. In doing so, I have to say that it does not surprise me that, in the third week of this parliament, this is one of the first pieces of legislation that the ideologues on the other side of this parliament have introduced. They have total disrespect and disregard for workers in the building industry, and it is payback for the donors to the campaign that they ran prior to September.

The Liberal government's reintroduction of the Australian Building and Construction Commission is a return to failed antiworker laws of the Howard government. It is the ideologues out to get the workers. It is not about having a good, strong economy and a sound industry; it is about attacking those people that they think may disagree with them.

This legislation will result in a return to the coercive powers used to intimidate workers and attack unions at the cost of workers' safety and legal entitlements. I see this as a piece of legislation that will impact on work safety. The construction industry is one of the least safe industries in Australia, with one of the highest casualty rates, one of the highest death rates, of all industries. Through the intimidation of workers, which this bill will allow to happen, the safety of workers in the industry will be jeopardised. These coercive powers allow the ABCC secret police to hold secret meetings and to jail those who do not cooperate. Workers will have no right to silence or to be represented by a lawyer of their choice. I do not think that is good enough.

The previous legislation resulted in construction worker Ark Tribe being drawn into a two-year investigation and trial because he refused to attend the ABCC secret interviews regarding a workers safety meeting he attended on site. Once again those on the other side of the parliament do not support worker safety. He and his family went through hell for nearly two years not knowing if he was going to jail. The ABCC and the conservative government failed in their attempts to make an example of him.

The Cole commission, ordered by the Howard government, spent millions in taxpayers' money to stamp out criminal behaviour of construction unions, but no convictions were ever recorded. It was a total waste of taxpayers' money. It was something that made the Howard government feel good. The government is misleading the Australian community by suggesting that the ABCC will stamp out criminal behaviours in the construction industry. It is flawed on two levels. Firstly, the Prime Minister and the Minister for Employment both know that the ABCC have no jurisdiction over criminal matters. The ABCC only has powers to intervene on industrial issues. Secondly, no convictions have ever been recorded.

The ABCC is an ideological stance by the government to put the power in the boss's hands so no worker feels able to refuse to work, even if they think the work site is unsafe, let alone to stand up for their legal entitlements on wages and allowances. Once again, it is jeopardising worker safety, something that we as a parliament should be ensuring is protected.

The ABCC is a body that attacks construction workers. Construction workers are not asking for much. They are asking for the basic principle of one law for all workers. Construction workers build our community and they work in a hard industry where their safety is at high risk. These workers deserve the right to have strong industrial representation through their union, something that those on the other side of this parliament do not support.

The legislation will result in discrimination against blue-collar workers in the construction industry, and the Australian community should not tolerate it. We on this side of the House do not support it. This legislation is yet another attempt by this government to divide and isolate groups within our society. The old players are all back and ready for the next battle to weaken workers' voices and industrial rights.

John Lloyd, the previous ABC Commissioner, has been appointed as chairman of the inspectorate advisory board. Nigel Hadgkiss was the previous ABCC deputy commissioner and is now the head of the Fair Work Building Industry Inspectorate. Mr Hadgkiss has a history of bias against construction workers and their union, something that those on the other side of this House have little regard for. As long as they get the result that they want, it is not about fairness, it is not about protecting workers' rights and it is not about ensuring workers' safety. The writing is on the wall, and the class battle between capital and labour continues, with the cards tipped towards the employers through this legislation. The ideologues on the other side have won again.

How many construction workers have to lose their lives or be seriously injured because of poor work safety and the limitations placed on them to refuse work through this legislation? These laws have been condemned repeatedly by the International Labour Organization—on, I believe, eight occasions—because they aim to attack workers and weaken the power of unions to represent workers on site, taking away the voice of workers.

My question to the government is: what are you going to do for workers? You are taking away their rights; what are you giving them in return? We have heard a lot of rhetoric from those on the other side of the House, but as yet all I am hearing is that those working in the construction industry are going to be working in a less safe environment with fewer rights and less protection. How are you going to protect construction workers from criminal employers who withhold their wages and put their lives in danger through unsafe workplaces? Is that okay? Is it all right not to pay workers? Is it all right to ask construction workers to go into unsafe workplaces? We on this side of the House do not believe that is the case. But I would have to say that those opposite are demonstrating through this legislation that they believe that should be the norm.

The government does not care about construction workers. It is more focused on repaying those who contributed to its election fund and pursuing workers on behalf of big business, the same people who gave generously to it during the election campaign. The price of the debt is the destruction of the union movement by attacking the right of workers to be represented.

We on this side of the parliament do not believe that is good enough. We believe that workers have the right to be represented. We believe that employers have the right to be represented. We believe that a healthy work environment is one where both the worker and the employer are respected. This government is showing that it has total disregard for workers in the construction industry. Gina Rinehart, the Minister for Agriculture's No. 1 supporter, has made clear her disdain for the industrial laws in Australia that ensure workers receive decent entitlements and require employers to provide a safe workplace, something that we on this side of the House are totally committed to.

The silver lining is that the workers united will never be defeated. Workers over centuries have fought for their rights at work. You only have to think of the huge worker uprising against Work Choices in 2007. I might add that it was not only workers who were concerned by the unfair Work Choices legislation but all the parents and grandparents of people in the workforce. I do not know how many times I had grandparents coming up to me when I had one of my mobile offices, expressing their concern about the impact Work Choices would have on their grandchildren's lives. This is the first step in the move back to that Work Choices legislation that we had in the past, which shows the focus of this government and its ideological hatred of workers and the union movement.

The union movement has been around a lot longer than Tony Abbott, Minister Abetz, Gina Rinehart and their other conservative conspirators who do not believe in workers' rights. This legislation is a return to discriminatory laws that attack the blue-collar workers who built this country. We would not be where we are today without workers in the construction industry. This is chapter 1 in the government's aim to turn back the clock to a Work Choices style industrial system.

The Prime Minister has misled the Australian people by saying that the government has learnt from the Howard government's industrial relations mistakes and the community's uprising against them. It is just more weasel words—saying things in such a way that you think people will not understand what you are doing and where you are coming from. It is not good enough, because the Australian people are fairly smart and they know this attack on workers in the construction industry is an attack on the union movement that this government has started already. It is something that in the long run the Australian voters will not stand for, because they believe in fairness. They believe in equity. They believe that workers have the right to a safe workplace. This legislation will lead to anything but a safe workplace and a good working environment.

The Prime Minister and his government are unable to ignore their strong anti-union and antiworker beliefs, which drive them and are their purpose in life. Workers deserve to be treated equally, and they have a right to refuse work if they believe it is unsafe or if they are not receiving their legal entitlements. It is a return to the days of the sham contract. Those on the other side of the parliament support that approach rather than workers. This legislation stops workers and their unions from standing up for workers' rights. However, this legislation will only cause a blister for workers and the unions in the long battle to protect their workers' entitlements. I say to the Prime Minister and those opposite: shame! You should be supporting workers. You should be encouraging strong workforces in strong workplaces rather than attacking one sector of the workforce.

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