Andrew Laming (Bowman, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Colleagues, I'll talk about a scam. I'll give you a real scam, and that's the Master Builders lifting the lid on union corruption in construction. That's right: up with the price and down with value for money. Thirty per cent of the entire infrastructure investment disappears into 'the more you pour, the more you pay'.

Madam Acting Deputy President Claydon, I'll tell you where this lot on the other side are: they're right in here, in the pockets of the union movement. In my home city, we were trying to build a road. The federal government funded the first road in 10 years and we built 1.2 kilometres for $27 million. So the Labor Party, pressed into action, came up with marking down the distance of the road—800 metres of road—for 50 per cent more at $37 million. That's for 50 per cent less road. Where is this money going? We want to know whose pockets it's disappearing into. It's an absolutely reasonable question.

The Master Builders have lifted the lid on the ACT, but I want to lift the lid on Queensland. It's little better there. They charge $165,000 in annual salaries for traffic control individuals and a minimum salary of $240,000 a year for the lowest-paid chippy on the Queens Wharf Brisbane construction site. This is out of control! It's the unions out of control, and I'm telling the other side not to come down here and talk about scams. The ultimate scam is the union movement skimming taxpayers' money, adding 30 per cent up and marking down Queenslanders.