Ross Vasta (Bonner, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Industry, Science and Technology. Will the minister please advise the House about the value of the building and construction industry to the Australian economy? What measures has the government taken to protect this vital industry from militant unionism?

Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Bonner for his question. He understands how important building and construction is to Queensland, and all of the members on this side of the House understand how important the building and construction industry is to the Australian economy. Last year alone, building and construction was worth about $141 billion—that's about 7½ per cent of GDP—and well over one million people were employed in the building and construction sector.

The coalition has always backed building and construction and the hardworking people in building and construction, and that's why we set up an industry watchdog. We established the Australian Building and Construction Commission in 2005. It's important to just do a little bit of a recap on why it was so necessary for us to establish the Australian Building and Construction Commission. The Cole royal commission uncovered some staggering examples of union thuggery within the industry. This included fraud, corruption, collusion and anticompetitive behaviour, unlawful work practices, violence and inappropriate industrial practice. The ABCC changed all of that. While it was in place, productivity grew by nine per cent. The Australian people were better off by about $7.5 billion annually.

Dr Freelander interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Macarthur will cease interjecting. I've asked him on a number of occasions to cease interjecting. His next interjection will be his last for question time, I can promise him.

Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

To the eternal shame of the Gillard-Labor government, they abolished the ABCC. And what happened? It was a return to the bad old days on the building and construction sites. The coalition had to fight tooth and nail to re-establish the industry watchdog, the ABCC, but Labor still didn't learn, because they took to the election last May that they would abolish the ABCC again. This is an appalling state of affairs for Australians and for the building and construction industry. The final word really needs to go to the people who actually work in the building and construction industry: the hardworking, quiet Australians. Their judgement on the unions is absolutely crystal clear: 25 years ago, 34 per cent of the construction workforce were members of a union and by 2016 that had dropped to 10 per cent—that says it all. If Labor were truly for the workers, they'd stop running the union agenda and they'd help us crack down on union officials who do the wrong thing. Unfortunately, the only thing Labor is interested in building is a power base for their union mates. (Time expired)