Sarah Henderson (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Building and Construction Industry (Improving Productivity) Bill 2013 [No. 2] and to commend the government's determination to bring back the Australian Building and Construction Commission. Regrettably, corruption, lawlessness, standover tactics, bullying and intimidation are commonplace in the Australian construction industry. But, before I speak about this bill and why it is so important, I want to address some comments made by the previous member, the member for Newcastle, and convey in no uncertain terms my disgust at the comments she made in relation to the deaths of workers on Australian construction sites.

It is appalling that the member for Newcastle has invoked the terrible deaths of men and women who have died on Australian construction sites in her argument. In no way would anyone in this House—and I could see the faces of other members opposite, who I do not think were particularly impressed with her comments—ever suggest that full compliance with occupational health and safety and the highest standards of safety and full compliance with the law on Australian construction sites are not absolutely vital. For the member for Newcastle to use a shabby, pathetic argument discredits not only her but also her party. If she cared about bringing some integrity to this parliament, she would withdraw those comments.

In an industry which employs more than one million Australians directly, the conduct on Australian building and construction sites has had a very deep impact on the Australian economy, the cost of doing business, the cost of construction, particularly in my home state of Victoria, and on jobs across this nation. This is not about attacking unions and about attacking workers. That is what Labor wants Australians to believe. This is about ensuring that we have a lawful and efficient workplace in the construction sector. Frankly, if employers or businesses are engaging in any inappropriate conduct, they should be held to account, because an efficient, lawful workplace is vital for workers. Workers want to work in a place where there is peace and harmony. They do not want to be subjected to standover tactics. I can tell you: the victims in most cases are the workers. We want to see a lawful environment in which the Australian construction and building industry can prosper.

When the ABCC was in place it resulted in fewer days lost due to industrial action. It ensured a greater degree of confidence in our very important building and construction sector. It resulted in nine per cent productivity growth in the construction industry and $7.5 billion in consumer savings. The ABCC was prepared to prosecute and punish company officials—anyone, in fact, including some union bosses—to address these issues of misconduct and unlawful behaviour.

The construction industry provides many jobs for workers and contractors in small businesses and large enterprises. It is critical to a productive, prosperous and internationally competitive Australia. The coalition government recognises the importance of an industry that is vital to job creation and essential to Australia's economic and social wellbeing. The bill re-establishes the ABCC—a genuinely strong watchdog that will maintain the rule of law. This protects workers as much as anyone else. It improves productivity, whether onshore or offshore, and it addresses many of the terrible stories that we heard in the royal commission and read in the royal commission's final report. The bill prohibits unlawful industrial action by anyone, unlawful picketing, coercion and discrimination. The penalties are high enough to provide an effective deterrent and of course to return a particular worksite to one that respects the rule of law. A wide range of effective remedies such as injunctions will also be available to the ABCC to address unlawful behaviour.

In my region there have been a couple of compelling examples of this systemic behaviour on Australian construction sites, and it is clear that members opposite just want to put their head in the sand. There is a wonderful brewery in Geelong called Little Creatures—now a thriving business. The Little Creatures brewery went to hell and back to try to construct their operation. There was a violent dispute at the Little Creatures brewery, where union picketers were accused in court documents of making throat-cutting gestures and threats to stomp heads in, and workers who wanted to get on with their work were being told that they were dead. There was much shoving and kicking and punching of motor vehicles in what turned out to be an illegal picket.

The best example of a terrible time that workers went through in my region, as well as a particular company, was Boral. Boral was of course working with Grocon, and they were put in the worst possible position by the CFMEU. They were effectively and illegally black-banned by the CFMEU. The CFMEU ran a devastating campaign which according to Boral cost it more than $20 million in damages. They were working on one of the biggest projects in our region, the Regional Rail Link—such a critical project for jobs and for productivity. At the moment under the state Labor government public transport is in a fair bit of crisis, but this was and remains a very important project. According to Boral's CEO, Mike Kane, company trucks were stopped, its workers were intimidated, drivers were harassed and every possible technique was used to shut Boral down because it had contracted with Grocon.

On 9 July 2014, during the hearings of the Heydon royal commission, Boral CEO Mike Kane said that the CFMEU were using cartel tactics—blackmail, intimidation—to try and wrest control of Melbourne's multibillion dollar construction industry. He said the union and the builders were conspiring to allow anticompetitive behaviour to flourish. Mr Kane said during the hearing that CFMEU Victorian state secretary John Setka had told his staff the union was at war with Grocon, warning that Boral had to toe the line and cut its ties with Grocon or face the consequences. Mr Kane gave evidence that Boral had lost some $8 million in the preceding 19 months as long-term customers cancelled orders in order to avoid falling victim to the union's wrath. He said:

I was roadkill. We were simply a bystander who happened to be in the way. When we didn't agree we had to be punished as a lesson to other suppliers … This type of behaviour is the essence of the criminal conspiracy we are talking about.

Mr Kane also pointed out that he was disappointed by the lack of action taken by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission after he complained to them about the black ban being imposed on his company. It took more than two years for the dispute to be resolved. In September 2015 the CFMEU finally settled with Boral. The CFMEU agreed to pay Boral $4 million, as well as legal costs which are expected to total some $9 million, and it agreed to submit to a range of controls to ensure it would not interfere with the company's business over the next three years. This was an unbelievably terrible time for an important company doing great work in Victoria, providing hundreds and hundreds of jobs and working on one of the biggest infrastructure projects of the time. The law was not there to help Boral. Mike Kane went through hell and back.

I spoke about this case when the legislation came before the parliament last time. The Labor Party were completely silent. They were not prepared to stand up and say enough is enough, that they would not tolerate that behaviour and would not allow that unlawful behaviour to continue on Victorian building sites. It was hurting workers and hurting jobs; it was hurting productivity and impacting on major infrastructure projects. There was deafening silence from the Labor Party, including from the Leader of the Opposition. Boral has welcomed the recommendations of the final report of the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption. Mike Kane has said:

Together, these reports are a comprehensive catalogue of rampant union abuses of the Australian legal system by serial recidivists.

I have to commend Mr Kane. He has been very brave in the way in which he has spoken out. Many other businesses and employers have been too fearful to speak out, in fear of incurring the sort of wrath that Boral incurred. He said:

It is abundantly clear that the rule of law has been trampled on by an organisation that prides itself in taking the law into its own hands.

He said that he was pleased with the way the CFMEU's conduct had been dealt with, and he acknowledged the comment that there had been 'a longstanding malignancy or disease within the CFMEU'. This is something which has been acknowledged by former Prime Minister Bob Hawke, who has called for the CFMEU to be deregistered. This is not about any particular union; this is not about workers. This is about conduct. If the CFMEU were prepared to comply with the law, if they were prepared to run their union in a lawful way, we would not be having this sort of discussion and these sorts of terrible findings of the royal commission would not, of course, have come to light. The government are concerned about the conduct. That is what we are concerned about.

I visited the Epworth hospital, a very large project under construction in Geelong. I visited it a number of months ago and again last week. It is a great example of a project where there is wonderful industrial harmony. There are many members of the CFMEU working on that project, and many members to whom I have spoken are also less than impressed with the conduct of CFMEU union bosses. That is the very point—they do not like it; they do not like being caught up in this. I spoke to one, and he said, 'You're not very impressed with our union.' I said, 'No. We're all about jobs. We want to protect those jobs, but we want to make sure that you can work in a lawful workplace.' That is the key issue here.

The bill upholds and promotes respect for the rule of law. It ensures respect for the rights of all building industry participants. It contains provisions to ensure that unlawful action, including unlawful industrial action and unlawful pickets, is dealt with appropriately. It provides effective means for investigating and enforcing the law. It certainly does much to change the lawless culture of the building and construction industry, and provides a range of higher penalties which we believe are justified to try to get the construction industry back on its feet. At the moment in Victoria, the cost of construction is running at about 30 per cent higher than in other states. We are seeing a crisis in infrastructure developments in Victoria. There is a huge loss of confidence because of the risks of doing business and embarking on these large projects in Victoria.

I commend this bill to the House. I was once a member of a union. Unions do great work. There are many wonderful members of unions right around this country, but we will not, as a government, tolerate this sort of behaviour at any work site. That is why the passing of this bill is so vitally important.

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