Kylea Tink (North Sydney, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I am. I move amendments (1) and (2) to government amendment (129) together:

(1)   Amendment (129), item 659B, at the end of paragraph 789GZE(2)(b), add ", and one member with experience in small to medium sized enterprises in the residential building sector".

[membership]

(2)   Amendment (129), item 659B, at the end of section 789GZJ, add:

  (3)   Within 14 working days of a meeting, the National Construction Industry Forum must publish on the Department’s website a public communique.

[confidentiality]

The amendments I'm moving today relate to strengthening the representation on and transparency over the proposed National Construction Industry Forum. Close to five per cent of the workers in North Sydney work in building and construction. That's about 4,000 people. I've spoken to many of them and many residential builders who are fearful that the abolition of the ABCC will drive negative cultural changes in the commercial building sector. Whilst the government claims that carving out the construction industries and its unions divisions from many aspects of the bill will isolate these changes, it is inevitable that what happens at the big end of construction will flow through to the small and medium residential building sector due to the high levels of overlap with subcontractors and workers.

During the course of this rushed debate and harried negotiations we've seen the government release more details around their National Construction Industry Forum. The forum is by no means a replacement for the ABCC, but I am hopeful that all parties to the forum will work together in a respectful, trustful and collaborative manner. As currently constituted, the forum is dominated by ministerial captain's picks from peak bodies and industry groups. My amendments will ensure that those at the table are representative of the whole building industry, not just the big unions or big construction companies. In North Sydney there are around 2,000 construction and building businesses, of which 88 per cent are small businesses. This amendment seeks to ensure that their voice is heard. In order to achieve cultural change throughout the industry from top to bottom, small to medium, residential builders must be at the table. The amendment also ensures that the forum publishes a communique on the departmental website within 14 days of a meeting.

We've seen here and in the media intense lobbying from the big end of town—those with the power and resources to access the halls of parliament—and in this I count large employer groups and businesses, but also representatives of large unions. Individual employees, small- to medium-sized businesses and workers in low-paid industries, who the government have been wielding in advance to advance their arguments, are largely absent. The fact remains that this is a deal being done largely behind closed doors, and I don't think it's good for our democracy. We must open up the doors and improve the transparency over all processes of government, including statutory bodies like the proposed National Construction Industry Forum. My amendment will ensure that the broader sector and the public can see discussions and decisions of the forum, and I commend the amendment to the House.

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