Andrew Nikolic (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Building and Construction Industry (Improving Productivity) Bill 2013 [No. 2]. Let me acknowledge at the outset the important place of trade unions in Australia's history. There is no doubt they have made a most valuable contribution. Sadly, this proud record has been defiled by the militancy of a small group of corrupt, militant unions and officials, most notably in the construction sector. In doing so, they have betrayed their own members and they have damaged our industrial harmony and our national economy. It is also undoubtable that, in light of the compelling evidence presented by the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption, no objective observer can deny that there is an endemic problem of industrial lawlessness in the construction industry. The royal commissioner's final report found there is a widespread and deep-seated culture of lawlessness among many union officials. Given the litany of court judgements and fines against the CFMEU and other unions for repeated and unrepentant breaches of the law, it is very clear that more substantial measures are required to change this poisonous culture.

Re-establishing the Australian Building and Construction Commission is at the heart of ensuring this much needed cultural change. Consider, for example, that since 2005, CFMEU related unions and officials have been fined over $6 million for proven breaches of the law. Yet, instead of reflecting on the fact that they are on the wrong side of the law, the CFMEU has not been deterred from repeatedly breaching Australia's industrial laws. Far from being repulsed by this behaviour, when in power Labor and the Greens presided over the weakening and dismantling of the ABCC in 2012—in effect, allowing for this poisonous culture, this inappropriate behaviour, to enjoy even greater freedom of action. Labor and the Greens replaced it with a regulator that had significantly reduced funding and powers. The result was predictable. There was a return to the bad old days of a discredited industrial past: thuggery, intimidation, no-notice stop-work tactics, demands that union mates be employed ahead of non-unionists and an increase in construction industry disputation to a seven-year high. Who can forget the appalling scenes soon after the ABCC was abolished?

There were industrial pickets and violence on the streets of Melbourne. Police horses were punched, kicked and dragged to the ground. Non-union workers, members of the community and businesses were intimidated and threatened. There was the violent dispute at the Little Creatures brewery site in Geelong with militant unionists making throat-cutting gestures, threatening to stomp heads in and threatening workers who wanted to get on with their work by saying that they were 'dead', and property was maliciously damaged.

I was in the House yesterday when the Leader of the House, during the second reading debate, referred to unionists who had threatened people with 'Colombian neckties' at City West Water in Werribee. He went on to explain that the term 'Colombian neckties' came from the Colombian civil war of 1948 and involved slashing a victim's throat horizontally and pulling their tongue out through the open wound. It is appalling, repulsive, unacceptable behaviour that all fair-minded Australians will condemn.

The member for Gorton said that Labor oppose this bill because it has been in their platform since 2005. Let me trump that because re-establishing the ABCC was in our platforms at both the 2010 and the 2013 elections. We said that we would re-establish the ABCC within 100 days of the parliament's first sitting. There was absolutely no doubt in the mind of Australians about what we would do in this regard were we successful enough to gain their confidence and assume the Treasury benches. We received a clear mandate from the Australian people to clean up the mess in the construction industry, yet Labor and Green politicians have ignored the will of the Australian people and disrespectfully opposed this mandate at every turn.

In opposition Labor and the Greens have voted against re-establishing the only regulator that was able to hold the CFMEU to account. Why are we not surprised when the record shows that the CFMEU has donated over $6.5 million to the Labor Party since 2007? The Greens received more than $500,000 in donations from the construction unions in the single year 2013-14. Despite the unwillingness of Labor and the Greens to act in a way that meaningfully addresses the corruption and illegal conduct of a number of militant construction unions, we on this side of the House will continue to put the case before the Australian people.

This issue is important because the construction sector is a vital part of our economy. It is an industry that provides so many jobs for workers in small business, large enterprises and contractors. A healthy construction sector is absolutely vital for Australia's future prosperity. Weeding out the rorts, rackets and rip-offs from the construction sector is as much an economic issue as an industrial issue. If we allow unlawful, corrupt behaviour to flourish, the cost of construction will always be higher than it should be. Productivity will diminish further and additional obstacles will be placed in front of much-needed investment.

A couple of budgets ago the government committed $50 billion to new infrastructure in Australia, and I am pleased to say that about $1 billion of that will come to Tasmania. For the Midland Highway in my electorate of Bass, there will also be $34 million for north-east freight roads, and a great deal of other much-needed construction and building work will be commenced. I want that building work, Australians want that building work and we want that building work, which investment promotes in our country, to be as productive and as efficient as it can be. Leadership is needed from this parliament, from the union movement, from employer groups and from other political stakeholders to act together to ensure that these important reforms are enacted.

The main objective of this bill is to deliver an improved workplace relations framework for building and construction work to ensure that it is carried out fairly, efficiently and productively for the benefit of all building industry participants and for the benefit of the Australian economy as a whole. It is about cooperative bargaining arrangements instead of coercion, intimidation and thuggery. It encourages genuine bargaining at the workplace level. Perhaps most importantly this bill upholds and promotes respect for the rule of law. Provisions ensure that unlawful industrial action and unlawful pickets are no longer a blight on the industrial landscape.

In highlighting the rationale for this bill, let me take this opportunity to thank and commend Royal Commissioner Dyson Haydon and his team for their efforts during the last two years. I know that many Australians will regret the aspersions that have been made against the royal commissioner, who is indeed a distinguished judge. It is undoubtable that the commissioner's findings have been distilled from 155 days of public hearings. Australians watched many of these hearings or, perhaps in some cases, the highlights at the end of each sitting day. There were also 46 days of private hearings and the evidence of over 500 individual witnesses.

The findings do not make for pleasant reading. Justice Heydon revealed allegations involving multiple examples of bribery, extortion and blackmail in the nation's construction industry. His report made 79 recommendations relating to the governance of registered organisations, signposting the way that we can improve the management of construction work sites across the country and make unions more transparent and accountable to their members. The royal commissioner also made 93 referrals for proceedings relating to possible breaches of the law—more than half of those relate to potential criminal prosecution. Numerous examples were revealed of gross mismanagement and unauthorised use of union members' funds, grave failures of governance and a dangerous lack of accountability and transparency which has allowed corrupt conduct by union officials to go undetected or ignored. Despite all of this evidence, Labor and the Greens in opposition continue to argue against the need to re-establish a specific regulator for this lawless industry.

The member for Gorton says these reforms are unnecessary. Let us test that logic for a moment: if the ABCC really was not required after Labor and the Greens abolished it in 2012, militant unions like the CFMEU would have complied with the law, rather than being fined on multiple occasions for repeated breaches of the law. This is a critical point: if the ABCC is so unnecessary, why did militant construction unions immediately resort to the same unlawful behaviour? This goes to the point of that entrenched culture of lawlessness that exists within parts of the union movement and it supports absolutely the need to re-establish the ABCC. The latest royal commission shows that, far from resorting to lawful methods, the CFMEU and other militant unions did exactly the opposite. In effect, those opposite appear to be saying to the Australian people that the construction industry does not have to comply with the law like everybody else. That is just not right.

This legislation will help re-establish the rule of law in the building and construction sector. It must be fast-tracked to ensure that workers, subcontractors and much-needed investment in this important industry is protected. Re-establishing the ABCC will ensure a return to the rule of law in the building sector, ending the thuggery and illegality and further protecting workers. Workers in the construction industry, after all, deserve a safe and legal working environment. Members on this side of the House will always stand for honest workers and unions who want to see the criminality exposed by the trade union royal commission stamped out.

Our proposed legislation helps to restore the situation when the ABCC was last in existence: an environment of enhanced productivity, where projects were delivered on-time and on-budget, and there was a decrease in industrial unrest. We made it very clear in opposition that restoring the ABCC was a key policy priority—for which we received a strong mandate. It is time that Labor and the Greens respected the judgement of the Australian people and the incontrovertible evidence of the royal commission and supported us in re-establishing the ABCC.

Consider the findings of a 2013 independent economics report on the state of the construction sector during the period when the ABCC was in place. There was a nine per cent productivity growth in the construction industry, $7.5 billion a year in consumer savings and far fewer days lost to due to industrial action. The ABCC also acted effectively against the CFMEU's unlawfulness, resulting in over $3 million in fines in Victoria alone.

By refusing to support the restoration of the ABCC, the opposition leader is, in effect, putting his tribal allegiance to the union movement ahead of his duty to the Australian people. Thankfully, not all Labor figures support him. Paul Howes, the former National Secretary of the Australian Workers' Union, has warned that it is not in the interests of working Australians to be in a vicious cycle of industrial warfare. Paul Howes is right to see the need for higher productivity and more honesty in the union movement to make things better for working Australians.

In March last year, former Labor minister and ACTU President Martin Ferguson announced his support for the reintroduction of the ABCC. He is yet another Labor leader to 'bell the cat' on the dishonest campaign being conducted by today's Labor and Greens. Mr Ferguson rightly compared the actions of the construction division of the CFMEU with the former BLF and said there was an urgent need for the CFMEU to be brought to heel by the reintroduction of a 'policeman on the beat' in the building industry. Mr Ferguson stated:

The manner in which the BLF conducted themselves is now rife within branches of the CFMEU. The CFMEU should be brought to heel and required to conduct themselves in a fair and reasonable way.

Martin Ferguson, Bob Hawke, John Cain and others were Labor leaders of courage and principle, prepared to stand up against the thuggery and rogue behaviour of the building unions. How sad that the current generation of Labor and union leaders is unwilling to put the national interest ahead of their union links. Rather than condemn the illegality and thuggery, Labor and Greens politicians excuse the conduct of these rogue elements of the CFMEU, host them here in this parliament, and actively defend and even promote them. The message from Mr Shorten and others appears to be 'Nothing to see here,' no matter how dishonest, violent or corrupt the behaviour from the CFMEU is.

Let me say there is a clear rationale to re-establish the ABCC. We saw that on the front page of yesterday's The Australian, with the former royal commissioner Terence Cole, whose work paved the way for the ABCC, arguing it must be re-established. I commend this bill to the House.

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