Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Women) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Back for his question. Yes, I can. Quite simply, industrial unlawfulness and wilful failure to comply with workplace laws within the building and construction industry in Australia is now at an all-time high. When repeat offending by a major player in the construction industry gets so bad that the Federal Court of Australia has to ask whether there has 'been a worse recidivist in the history of the common law', there is clearly a problem, and it is incumbent upon those of us in this place to ensure that that problem gets attention.

We all know that when the Labor Party in a sweetheart deal with the CFMEU in 2012 abolished the ABCC, we saw, quite literally within weeks, the streets of Melbourne being blockaded. Quite literally, major projects were shut down. We saw bullying, vitriolic behaviour et cetera. The list of examples coming out of the Federal Court goes on and on. The ABCC is quite simply necessary to ensure that both employers and unions in the construction industry comply with the laws that apply to them. Each one of us in this place and all Australians need to comply with the laws that apply to our workplace. Why is it that the building and construction industry does not have to comply with the laws that are set out to regulate its workplace?

Even those on the other side know that when Julia Gillard, the former Prime Minister, commissioned a review of the former ABCC by Justice Wilcox he found the need for a regulator within the building and construction industry, because of the unique nature of unlawfulness in this particular industry. (Time expired)