Ann Sudmalis (Gilmore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Getting rid of Labor's sneaky bank deposit tax, which was supposed to begin in January next year, was a great initiative. There were no public accolades from the local media, but let's blame the government for non-payment of Defence project contractors. Well, let's not!

There are contractors in Gilmore who have been bumped off work sites because they have non-unionised labour. Far-distant non-local union contractors bully their way on to local sites generating (a) an increase in contract costs and (b) a loss of employment opportunity for local workers. Today I need to express deep and ongoing concern related to a recent government project. Has this same action been the root cause of the non-payment of subcontractors or is there some other factor?

Our Defence base has huge government infrastructure investment happening with well-established payment programs. However, the contracting process has multiple layers. On a previous part of the project one of the main contractors went into administration, with the administrator negotiating deeds of agreement to pay unsecured creditors. Thirteen months later—that is, yesterday—one of my local contractors, Mark Nelson, received his first dividend cheque from the administrator. Owed more than $353,000, he received just one cent in the dollar—totalling $3,530.06—although promised 14c in the dollar originally. The master contractor was paid, so the government and the Department of Defence are not responsible for this. I ask: when did the administrators change the terms of payment? I will be presenting this case to ASIC for forensic investigation. The process is flawed and the problems must be resolved.