Keith Wolahan (Menzies, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Sure, Mr Speaker. What will happen to the construction industry without the ABCC? The construction industry stands apart from other sectors, in terms of its industrial unlawfulness. When there is no watchdog, industrial laws and penalties in this industry are seen as no more serious than a parking ticket. You speed; you pay the fine—and the offending conduct is repeated again and again. We've seen this raised in the courts recently.

The government has a responsibility to ensure that our laws are strong enough to deter people from breaking the law and that there is an effective regulator to prosecute wrongdoers when they act unlawfully. We haven't seen this in the past when we've seen militant unions break the law; they laugh in the face of it and make comments through their social media about it.

As soon as Labor abolished the ABCC in 2012, the improvements in respect for the law were lost almost immediately. After getting rid of the ABCC, the rate of disputes in the construction industry rose to approximately four times the all-industry average. In the first quarter after binning the ABCC in September 2012, the rate of industrial disputes increased fivefold. This is something that would lower productivity, would see more people have time off and would see the CFMEU run roughshod over the construction industry. It is something that we, on this side of the House, do not support.

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