Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to tell the member for La Trobe that under the Howard government there was a respect for the rule of law in the federal government. In fact, the Australian Building and Construction Commission, covering building and construction, saved the Australian economy $7.5 billion and building and construction productivity increased by 16.8 per cent after the creation of the Australian Building and Construction Commission by the now Prime Minister in the Howard government.

On the other hand, the Leader of the Opposition reversed the Australian Building and Construction Commission on the instructions of his union handlers at the CFMEU. The rouge CFMEU was bought back to the cabinet table and the ABCC was abolished. The CFMEU had its seat, telling Labor how to run industrial relations. We are trying to fix that. We are trying to bring back the Australian Building and Construction Commission. We are trying to establish the Registered Organisations Commission and who is opposing those reforms? It is no other than the Leader of the Opposition, 'Union Bill', trying to oppose those reforms to stop the tough cop on the industrial beat. I withdraw that. I am happy to withdraw that. He is trying to stop the trough cop on the union beat.

See this speech in context