Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

Since 2007 the unions in this country have donated $100 million to the Australian Labor Party. One of the first actions this government took was to repay them in spades, by abolishing the Australian Building and Construction Commission. Bob Hawke, Kevin Rudd and even Julia Gillard knew of the need to stand up to militant unions. Those opposite cannot simply ignore the continuous succession of court judgements, the documents and the need to do so.

Since 2003 the CFMEU and its officials have broken workplace laws on more than 2,600 occasions, have been involved in approximately 213 proceedings and have been penalised by over $24 million in penalties by the courts. The ABCC routinely filed new court cases which called out abhorrent behaviour, with a success rate of 91 per cent. The industry watchdog had an exemplary track record in cracking down on union intimidation, thuggery and criminal behaviour in the construction sector, especially the harassment and abuse of women on job sites. It was a highly effective body, which is why John Setka wanted it abolished and why the Prime Minister willingly obliged.

The government continues to repay them in spades. It's business and taxpayers—they're the ones who foot the bill here. When people are paying more taxes at the moment, understand that they're going toward the CFMEU and the activities there, because, when we talk about a new stadium for the 2032 Olympics, costing $3 billion, $4 billion or—the latest proposal—$6 billion, add the 30 per cent CFMEU tax on top of that.

When you go to build a hospital, you go to build a school or you go to build an aged-care facility, add 30 per cent on. That means that you have less capacity to build the next project. When you want to duplicate a roadway or you want to build a bridge across a river plain so that there can be the adequate infrastructure in that local community, understand that, because of this Prime Minister's actions, because of his weakness of leadership and because of the way in which he and his colleagues have facilitated the criminal activity within the CFMEU, understand that we are building less in this country than we ever have before.

We need to be building more. We know that the government has brought in a million people over the course of the last two years. We've only built 265,000 homes. And that's why this government has created a housing crisis. We have builders who are going bankrupt at a record rate. We have building costs which are escalating, and the government says, 'The CFMEU doesn't have an influence in relation to the residential sector.' Of course they do. The same subcontractors who are working on bigger sites are working on smaller sites. Builders have told this government time over that they can't retain their workforce, because people are going to work for $150,000 or $200,000 a year on a CFMEU site on a stop-and-go job, and people are paying the price for that.

This government seems to think that, somehow, the activity of the CFMEU is not inflationary. It is. Why are interest rates higher here when interest rates are being reduced in the United Kingdom, in Canada and in New Zealand and are on their way down in the United States, why are they still holding high here and why is the Reserve Bank governor suggesting that the likelihood is that rates will hold where they are or perhaps go up over the course of this calendar year or early into the next calendar year? It's because of the government's spending, and it's because of the inflationary pressures in the economy. The government's energy policy has been a disaster. It's not just your power bill that's gone through the roof; it's the local farmer's, it's the local IGA store's—their cold storage means their power bill has doubled over the last couple of years. They're not absorbing that cost; they're passing it on, and that's why your grocery prices are spiking under this Prime Minister. It's why our country is heading in the wrong direction under Anthony Albanese. That's the reality for Australians. They're feeling it every day.

And the CFMEU has a protection racket going that is utterly and completely condoned and facilitated by this government. Now, I know there are good members of parliament in the Labor Party who privately express their dismay at this Prime Minister's actions, at the weakness of his leadership in relation to the CFMEU. In this bill we seek to restore the law of order. We seek to make sure we can have proper pricing structures in our building sector. If we do that, people will have the capacity to afford a builder again. At the moment people know, if they want to renovate or if they've got kids who want to build a new home, that it is beyond the grasp of most Australians. That is the creation of this government.

It's not the only disaster they've created in just two short years, but it is a very significant one, and it's having a negative impact in relation to the economy and in particular the building sector. That is why I commend this bill to the House, and I think there should be a very robust discussion in advance. I want to thank the seconder of this bill, the member for Fisher, somebody who has very significant experience both as a builder and as a lawyer within this area of practice. He has a unique skill set and perspective, and I welcome his seconding of this bill.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion. The Building and Construction Industry (Restoring Integrity and Reducing Building Costs) Bill 2024 is a no-brainer. For the Queenslanders in the House right now: do you remember that Suncorp ad where the wife is wandering around the backyard with a tea towel over her head and she says: 'Charter boat? What charter boat?'? For years the now Leader of the Opposition and I, and many other members on this side of the House, have been talking about the criminality in the building industry by the CFMEU. And the Prime Minister and the member for Watson had the audacity to say recently, 'We had no idea it was this bad.' For years, those members who have been around for a while would have heard the Leader of the Opposition talking about the CFMEU breaking arms, threatening people who were working on building sites. Well, I was one of those people who were threatened on a building site in Melbourne in the bad old days of the BF. That's why I am so exercised by this issue.

So, for those members opposite to come in here and say, 'Oh, there's nothing to see here'—as they did for so many years, and now they've had this epiphany because of some recent media that was done—is beyond galling. It is misleading, because this discussion has been had for so long and it has been brought to the attention of those opposite. Yet, as the Leader of the Opposition has said, they've taken $100 million since 2007 in political donations.

Those members opposite talk about how you have to operate in safe workplaces, but somehow that doesn't apply to building sites across this country. Men and women across this country—good, hardworking small-business people—go to building sites every day to put food on the table for their kids, yet they are subject to the thuggery that is going on every day in this building industry: 'If you don't pay the piper, you don't get to work here'. It's moved beyond 'no ticket, no start'. It's moved beyond 'If you don't sign up to the CFMEU, if you don't pay the piper, then you can't get a start.' It's not only that but: 'Not only will you not get a start on this job; you won't get a start on any job, on any building site in this country.'

The ABCC will bring back a restoration of integrity to this industry, which has been so lawless for such a long time. Stephen McBurney, who used to be the commissioner—and who, full disclosure, I went to school with—is a good guy. He stood up and stood up for people in the building industry. And what has the CFMEU done? They tried to get him banned from going back to working for the AFL. That's what started all of this—the CFMEU had the audacity to pick a fight with the AFL. God knows!

The Leader of the Opposition touched on the costs of construction. If I were still a chippy, and I was sitting down in the pub having a drink my mates on a Friday night, and the bloke sitting next to me tells me he's earning $200,000 on a building site, and I'm earning 40 or 50 bucks an hour on a building site, where do you reckon I'm going to go? I'm going to go to my boss and say: 'Boss, guess what I heard on Friday. You either need to start paying me more money or I am out of here. That's why we've got a construction skills shortage in this country. That's why people can't get their houses built. That's why the price of construction and housing has skyrocketed. (Time expired)

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned, and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.