Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak against the Building and Construction Industry (Improving Productivity) Bill 2013 [No. 2] again. It is nothing more than an ideological attack and a vendetta against a group of workers. This government is singling out an industry and a group of workers who work in some of the most dangerous workplaces in our country, where safety on the job and in the workplace cannot be underestimated.

Who are these workers that this government is calling thugs, as the previous speakers on the government side are? They are people who, when there is a workplace injury, are the first at the hospital. The groups of workers that I met with yesterday, and have met throughout my time as an MP, tell stories about how, when they are injured at the workplace and facing life-threatening injuries, when their families turn up to the hospital they are met by CFMEU organisers and officials. Quite often it is the secretary of their local branch. They talk about how the CFMEU are not thugs and how they are family, and how, when their family members are most in need, it is the union that is there to support them.

I have also met with people who have tragically lost a partner—a partner who has fallen to their death or been killed on the site. Again, they talk about the family of the CFMEU who are there to condole with them, to talk to them, to offer counselling and to be there to support them. These are the people that MPs on the government side in this place are calling thugs. These are the people who this government is demonising in the media—people who get up every day to make sure that people who work on construction sites have a safe workplace and return home.

The safety issues that we have in the construction industry cannot be ignored. I note that many on the other side talk about the economic benefits from the ABCC, and I question their figures. But what they do not talk about is that, during the time of the ABCC, workplace injuries on our construction sites were up. Workplace deaths on our construction sites were up. This government is willing to compromise safety in our workplaces for their vendetta against an Australian trade union, and that is what it needs to be called out for.

Our CFMEU organisers and members make sure that their industry is safe, and I quite often hear from people in my own electorate: 'If it wasn't for the union speaking up about safety, I would fear speaking up myself. I'd fear being targeted and I'd fear not being asked to return to the next job.' In construction, your work relies upon the next job. So coming together and having that strong voice ensures that they are a collective speaking up for collective issues.

In my own area of Bendigo, we respect the work that the CFMEU do to support our local schools. Recently they held a Christmas party for the end of the year break-up. They kindly extended the invitation to Kalianna, a special school in my electorate. Every year they invite the students of the primary school division to come and enjoy a day. It is always a wonderful day for those students and their teachers, and every year the students look forward to it. Is this the action of a group of thugs? No, it is not.

Construction workers, like all of us, have families, and, every time this government stands up and bags them out and calls them thugs, they are not only offending the people who work in the construction industry; they are also targeting their families. This government does not seem to mind that they are targeting an entire family. We saw, under the ABCC, some pretty terrible breaches of privacy and some pretty terrible breaches of what you would call basic rights—people rocking up in the middle of the night to try to find a worker and, not being able to find that worker, handing ordering notices to their partner. To be handed something like that on your doorstep suggests that your husband or your partner is a criminal—and that could not be further from the truth.

This government is standing up and saying that this is about getting rid of criminal behaviour on building sites. The ABCC governs civil, not criminal, behaviour. So this is another furphy that has been put forward by this government. Nobody wants to see criminal behaviour in any workplace. If there are threats of violence, call the police. That is what should be done. If there are threats and intimidating behaviour, call the police. Regardless of the workplace, that behaviour should not be tolerated and the police should be called. But do not come in here and pretend that the ABCC is about criminal behaviour, because it is not. Its whole purpose is actually about governing civil behaviour. It is about pursuing an ideological agenda. It is about trying to distract the Australian people from what the government is trying to do in workplaces, and that is to weaken wages and conditions.

I also note that this government likes to call out and criticise the CFMEU when they are the whistleblowers on some pretty shocking exploitation of 457 and 417 visa workers. Almost daily, we are hearing about more cases of exploitation of people who are here as guest workers, temporary workers, in this country. One of the first unions and groups of workers to be out there talking about this issue was the CFMEU. There are cases we have all heard about over and over again, whether it be the Irish backpackers being ripped off in South Australia and Western Australia or the Chinese and Filipino workers being ripped off in Victoria and New South Wales. These are issues that this government is choosing to ignore.

Some of the construction companies who are engaging in the exploitation of these visas happen to be Liberal Party donors. So that is perhaps why they are going after the union that has blown the whistle on the exploitation of these workers rather than going after the companies that have exploited these workers. In one particular case, through the Fair Work Ombudsman and the work of the union, almost a million dollars in entitlements has been recovered for those Filipino workers who were engaged here on 457 visas. This government is doing nothing to clean up the exploitation of temporary workers on building sites. If they were serious about cleaning up that exploitation, they would be introducing a commission that would look at the roles contractors and subcontractors are playing, and how they are engaging people here on temporary visas. We are not seeing that. Instead, we are seeing them go after the very people who every day go to work to make sure people get paid a fair day's wage for a fair day's work. They are about creating division in the workplace. They are not about creating harmony in the workplace.

When the ABCC was created, in 2005, it was the first time in Australian history that an industry-specific inspectorate was legalised. It operated in an aggressive, biased and coercive manner. It did not pursue or investigate breaches such as underpayment of wages, or safety concerns. It purely and simply investigated the behaviour of union officials, who, as I said, go to work every day to make sure that workplaces are safe.

If the result of an ABCC is an increase in workplace deaths and injuries, then you should be ashamed. You should not be trying to bring it back into this parliament, but this is what this government is doing. They need someone to bully and they have chosen it to be the construction industry.

A further concern I have with this particular bill is that it sets out a separate set of laws for a group of workers we have in our community and economy. I believe there should be one set of laws for all, regardless of where you work. Whether you are a cleaner, a teacher or a construction worker, there should be the same set of rules for all. Singling out the construction industry just demonstrates how ideologically driven this government is. Why is it that this government believes that our construction sites deserve these special rules? Is it because they are vocal? Is it because they speak up? Is it because they are there and they see the pain and anguish on family members' faces when their loved one has had a serious workplace injury?

I challenge all members opposite to actually meet with some of these workers, to meet with the family members and hear first-hand their stories about what it means to get that shocking news that your partner has had an injury at work, or worse still, has lost their life, having been crushed or killed on a worksite. I challenge those opposite to hear the stories from the organisers about why they believe it is so critically important that they are there to support people. If we are going to have safe workplaces, to ensure that deaths and injuries are minimised, there needs to be cooperation between the workforce and the employers. In the past, we have seen that relationship develop with our good employers, ensuring that we have safe workplaces. But with this government and their green light, we are seeing that relationship start to collapse.

This particular government vendetta against the CFMEU cannot be underestimated. Daily in parliament they love to tear this union apart—tear them apart and say that they are the devil and they are costing our country billions. It is just empty rhetoric and it is just not true. This government needs to do more to support a strong union movement, not less. This government needs to be encouraging positive relationships between workers, unions and employers.

On this government's watch we are seeing a collapse in workplace conditions as major companies seek to outsource more and more of their jobs. So, rather than taking the responsibility of directly employing people, under this government's watch we are seeing more and more of these jobs go to subcontractors. People in the construction industry, like the cleaning industry, are made to get ABNs, cover their own worker's compensation and cover their own superannuation. They are made to work for an ABN, because that is their only choice. Get an ABN and become your own contractor and take on all the risk: 'I will not take on any of it, or you do not get the job.'

Given the number of people who are here working on temporary visas and who have the same conditions, the workers feel like they have no choice. On the government's watch they are putting safety at risk, the conditions in our workplaces are becoming harder, and we are actually seeing wages go backwards. You do not have to be a genius to know that when wages go backwards people are spending less. It is actually bad for the economy if people are not earning a wage to keep up with the basics and the cost of living.

Yet, rather than doing something to tackle the creation of jobs in our economy, that we have good, secure jobs that people can count on, and that we have a fair temporary migration scheme that does not see overseas workers pitted against Australian workers—that they are being exploited—we are seeing this government time and time again put legislation into parliament that goes after the very organisations that are seeking to support Australian workers and Australian workplaces. The language used when entering this bill was to threaten to go to a double-dissolution. Good on the senators in the other place for staring the government down and saying they will not be bullied on this legislation.

What the government does not understand is that Australians understand that construction is a tough job and it is one where there is high risk. I have just returned from Cambodia, where I was on a Save the Children delegation. The building unions over there talked about some of the unsafe practices they have—people who turn up to work in thongs; people without the proper safety gear; people who do not receive proper inductions on safety; people who are forced to work very long hours in unsafe conditions. It used to be that way in Australia before we had workers come together and form unions and campaign for safer workplaces. All this government is trying to do is pull apart one of the unions that make sure, as best as possible, that workers go home at the end of the day.

There have already been a number of deaths this year on construction workplaces in our country. Every year the Victorian Trades Hall has a memorial. Last year they put out a pair of shoes from every worker who had lost their life on a building site. They stood there with the families and had a minute's silence. They said, 'We will do our best to make sure there are not as many shoes put out on display next year.' These are not the actions of thugs. These are the actions of proud, compassionate people standing up for their fellow workers. This bill should be voted down and withdrawn.

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