Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak against the Building and Construction Industry (Improving Productivity) Bill 2013 [No. 2]. This government tells us that the establishment of the Australian Building and Construction Commission is critical because there is widespread corruption within the union movement, we have a productivity problem within the construction sector and, to use the government's words, we need a 'tough cop on the beat' to deal with those issues. But, unfortunately, much like a lot of the government's current agenda, these assertions are very heavy on rhetoric and very light on when it comes to facts.

Let us look at what this bill does and also at the history of the ABCC. There is no better way to examine whether an institution like this will be effective than to go back to the record and look at what the ABCC did when it was established under the previous conservative government. Firstly, the bill strips away some very basic rights that are afforded to people right across the community. It says, 'Because you work in the construction industry, you deserve fewer rights than people who work in other industries.' In fact, some of the most basic rights that are afforded to common criminals are stripped away through this proposed legislation. It treats construction workers worse than common criminals; it removes the presumption of innocence; it effectively sets up a Star Chamber; it creates incredible coercive powers that would mean that construction workers could be subject to secret interrogations and forced to answer questions under oath; and it effectively creates a form of industrial apartheid.

The question arises: what led to the initial establishment of the ABCC and what was the performance of the ABCC once it was established? We know that, under the Howard government, there was a royal commission into the construction industry. We saw allegations of criminal wrongdoing and yet not one successful prosecution as a result of that royal commission. Despite that, we saw the establishment of the ABCC, which, we were told, was going to eliminate corruption and improve productivity within the sector. What we saw, in fact, was that, when the ABCC was established, productivity in the construction sector actually decreased. We know that productivity has improved since the abolition of the ABCC, making a mockery of the notion that, somehow, establishing the ABCC will do something to transform our economy and get Australia moving in the right direction. We know what economic levers are important to start tackling some of the challenges that we face, and yet we have a government, resorting to a tired, old ideological position, prosecuting an agenda for the re-establishment of the ABCC, which we now know, based on the commission's performance when it was established, does nothing for productivity.

We also know that one of the great dangers of working in the construction industry is that people often do not return home. It is a very dangerous industry. We know that there are a number of breaches of occupational health and safety laws. We also know that the ABCC did not take action against any employer over breaches of occupational health and safety laws, despite the track record of significant harms and, indeed, deaths within that industry. In fact, it presided over an increase in the number of deaths in the industry. So we know that this commission is completely unrelated to productivity. We know that, if anything, occupational health and safety deteriorated under the commission, we know that the bill strips away some basic rights from innocent people and we know that, when it comes to the coercive powers, we are effectively creating a separate class of laws for people simply because of the industry in which they work. Yes, of course there are significant issues within the construction industry, and they include the fact that many of those people who go to work do not come back home at night. We know that there are problems with labour from overseas, with people being exploited on $10 or $12 an hour through sham contracting, and yet we have heard not a word on this from the current government.

So what is going on here? Let's not forget that the parliament has been prorogued—this is a question of such important national interest and urgency that we have taken the extraordinary step of proroguing the parliament. The answer is very simple. As I said earlier, during the address-in-reply to the Governor-General, the coalition are a divided party. They are a shambolic party. They are, at the moment, riven with differences over social and economic policy, so they are bereft of an agenda. They are bereft of an economic agenda—we kept hearing about the GST and about some of those important economic reforms that we would see around income tax cuts and so on, and yet there is no agreement because they are a party that are divided. They are divided on social policy. We have the Prime Minister, who says he is a strong supporter of marriage equality, yet we have those homophobes and bigots within the coalition who, on the back of the Safe Schools Coalition, took extraordinary action to engage in a review of a sensible program designed to try to stop bullying in schools.

What was the response from the coalition? It was: what will bring the coalition together more than a bit of good, old-fashioned union bashing? That is why we are here. We are not here because of concerns about corruption. We are not here because of concerns around productivity. If there were genuine concern around the notion of corruption, we would be looking at the misconduct of those financial institutions and, indeed, into those sectors, economy wide, that we know are engaged in illegal and corrupt activity.

That is why the Greens have long campaigned for the establishment of a royal commission. Indeed, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson led the charge for a royal commission into the banking and financial sector, where we know that there is a litany of misconduct and corrupt behaviour that is adversely impacting on millions of ordinary Australians. And the list is indeed long. We have the allegations where the Commonwealth Bank gave customers—over 1,000 of them—bad advice, compensated to the tune of $52 million. Another 8,000 further applications were made for review, with more compensation—millions—to follow. We had a similar example with the National Australia Bank—$16 million in compensation. There was Macquarie Bank, with another $14 million in compensation. We had the farce where the ANZ charged people for services that they did not receive—another $30 million in compensation. We have some of our big banks—the ANZ and Westpac—being charged with rigging interest rates; currently, the matter is being investigated. We had that remarkable situation with the Commonwealth Bank with Comminsure, where people's claims were ignored. In fact we saw the definition of common medical conditions like a heart attack being changed so that those insurers could avoid paying their legislated responsibility. Remarkable stuff—absolutely remarkable!

So, if we are talking about corruption, if we are talking about wrongdoing, let us support a royal commission into the finance and banking sector. I am reminded of Senator Brandis's comment that there is no difference between a dodgy boss and a dodgy union official. If that is the case, and you are prepared to support a royal commission into unions, then you should support the Greens' call for a royal commission into the banking and finance sector.

If the government were serious about tackling corruption and wrongdoing, it would also get behind the Greens' call to establish a national anticorruption watchdog. We have had that policy costed by the Parliamentary Budget Office, and—wouldn't you know it—the cost of a national anticorruption watchdog is very similar to the amount that was spent on the trade union royal commission. So, in having a politically motivated royal commission into a group of political enemies for the sake trying to keep one side of politics united, we have now spent what we could have spent on establishing a permanent, ongoing institution to stamp out corruption, in all of its forms.

Instead of supporting the creation of a national anticorruption watchdog or a royal commission into banking and finance, the government has brought us all back here—nominally for three weeks—so we can fight the same old battles of last century and try and ensure that we have a united coalition party room and a divided nation. Whenever a government acts is in its own narrow self-interest rather than the national interest, it is doomed to fail. And that is what we are witnessing with the Turnbull government right now.

The Greens have long supported the role of the union movement within society. We know that trade unions were founded with the purpose of protecting the rights of ordinary working people and they have much to be proud of. We know that, when things go wrong in workplaces, it is unions that step up and represent the interests of ordinary working people. We know that the union movement—not just right across Australia but right across the developing world—is playing an important role in protecting the rights of ordinary citizens, some of whom have very few rights afforded under the regimes that they are governed by.

So we stand here and oppose the implementation of the Australian Building and Construction Commission. We are guided by the evidence on this. We know that, when the commission was previously installed, it did nothing to improve productivity or health and safety. We understand this is an ideological position not supported by evidence and really established with the intent of keeping a divided party room on the same page. We will oppose vigorously any moves to have this body which treats ordinary people within the construction industry worse than common criminals.