Anthony Chisholm (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

What has changed in this legislation as a result of a royal commission that went for 18 months and cost almost $60 million? Absolutely nothing. Again, absolutely nothing has changed in this legislation, and no other legislation has been brought forward. But the ideological war continues.

I note with interest that Senator Roberts, when speaking last week on the registered organisations bill in the chamber, showed just how aligned he is with the Turnbull government's misguided views. Senator Roberts even tried to claim that he was the real battler in this scenario, railing against what he called a 'cabal of elites' in the union movement. What an alternate universe he lives in. Perhaps the union movement should feel proud that they have now joined the likes of the United Nations and global banking elites in the cabal that Senator Roberts believes is running the world. I am beginning to suspect that the cabal of elites includes anyone who is not Senator Roberts.

Going back to the government's motivations, let us not pretend that this legislation as it stands is about better workplaces or stronger unions. Those opposite have never wanted that, despite their protests to the contrary. Some examples of this include the fact that this government had to be dragged kicking and screaming to take any interest in the criminal rip-offs occurring at 7-Eleven. Even with new revelations we have seen over recent days with regard to Caltex service stations, I am yet to hear any government members speaking out about this issue in the media. It will be a real test over the coming days as to whether they are prepared to do that. They were happy to stand up and attack unions, but they remained silent while workers in this country were being ripped off, being paid below the minimum wage.

The government have also done nothing to look at the widespread reports of corruption and rorting in the 457 and temporary work visa programs. When you look at the government's actions as a whole, you can clearly see that the only interest they have in the workplace is when they think they can get away with a bit of union bashing and attacking workers. They are apparently opposed to red tape—unless it is red tape that restricts the rights and role of unions in Australian society. Perhaps if they paid as much attention to managing the economy and creating jobs as they do to attacking unions, our country would be whole lot better off. If they were paying attention, maybe we would not have the lowest wage growth since the measure started being recorded in 1998—a figure of 1.9 per cent over the last year. Maybe if they were watching the economy, the participation rate would not have fallen 0.6 percentage points over the past 12 months to 64.4 per cent, the lowest rate in a decade. And maybe if they were paying attention, they would have noticed that the participation rate for young people fell 1.5 percentage points over the past 12 months to 65.9 per cent, the lowest rate experienced over a 30-year period and one that is particularly being felt in all sections of Queensland.

The government do not have any long term agenda for our country and do not have any reason for being in government other than attacking and vilifying those who they see as their opponents. The government are asleep at the wheel. They want to attack unions and attack workers until Australia is a low-wage, easy-to-fire society, racing to the bottom on pay and conditions. The government are well on their way to tanking the economy. We heard recently that the government are moving away from their commitment to a 2021 budget surplus. Amidst this growing debt, the government are refusing to scrap their $50 billion worth of tax cuts for big business. This just shows you how wrong their priorities are. Add this to the lowest wage growth in two decades and the lowest participation rate in a decade, and you have a really poor outcome for people looking for jobs and employment opportunities. Trickle-down economics was comprehensively disproved back in the 1980s, but the government seem to be a bit late in learning their lesson.

So what does this bill actually do? It really goes to the ABCC restricting the democratic rights of people. The Law Council says that the ABCC laws are 'contrary to the rule of law', an irony lost on the Prime Minister, who previously claimed that the ABCC is required to 'return the rule of law to the construction industry'. The ABCC breaches the principle of equality before the law as well. Workers in the building and construction industry should be subject to the same laws that apply to other workers. This legislation extends the reach of the ABCC into picketing, offshore construction and the transport and supply of goods to building sites.

The Australian Building and Construction Commission does not deal with criminal behaviour but has criminal justice powers. It does not matter how many times the government refers to criminal conduct in the same sentence as the necessity to revive the construction watchdog. It does not change the fact that it is a civil regulator. The government's bill removes the current protection which requires the director of the Fair Work Building Industry Inspectorate to apply to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal to issue an examination notice. This is equivalent to the police being able to conduct a search without going to a magistrate to justify why they need a warrant.

History shows that when this commission is in place workplace deaths and injuries increase. I mentioned at the start of my speech the tragic deaths of two Queenslanders that occurred only a matter of months ago not far from where I live. If Malcolm Turnbull has his way, construction workers will be hit with a $34,000 fine for acting on safety concerns at work. This is clearly untenable in an industry that is so dangerous. Last time this was the case we saw more workplace deaths and more serious workplace injuries.

During the period of Work Choices and the ABCC under John Howard fatalities for all workers increased by more than 25 per cent, while fatalities for construction workers skyrocketed from an average of 2.5 fatalities per 100,000 to almost five fatalities per 100,000 workers. In 2007, when the ABCC was last in place, worker deaths on construction sites hit a 10-year high, with 51 workers killed. After Labor abolished the ABCC, workplace deaths dropped by 60 per cent. Analysis by the Parliamentary Library shows that when the ABCC was last in operation between 2004 and 2012 the cost of non-residential building grew faster than the CPI, so it actually cost more to build when the ABCC was around, not less.

Although the government's attack on unions is about driving record low wages even lower, it seems the Prime Minister and the Treasurer cannot get their argument right. The Prime Minister says the ABCC will stop excessive wages, whereas the Treasurer said it will support wages growth. With the lowest wage growth in two decades, you would think the Prime Minister and the Treasurer would at least get their stories straight. It seems this government will use whatever argument they think is most popular in order to desperately pass this bill—and we have seen that applied to other legislation as well, including the backpacker tax.

In addition to the economic argument being wholly repudiated, we oppose this bill because the ABCC restricts democratic rights. There will be a presumption of guilt under the ABCC. Workers will be guilty until proven innocent. This is a shocking reversal of the presumption of innocence. The principle that the prosecution bears the onus of proof against an accused is regarded as a cardinal principle of our system of justice. Criminals such as drug dealers are protected by the presumption of innocence, but under Malcolm Turnbull's ABCC legislation construction workers are not. This is nothing more than an ideological attack on workers and unions.

We on this side of the House recognise the importance of unions. They play a fundamental role in Australia's workplace relations system. They are created and registered for the purpose of representing Australian employers and employees at work. Unions also represent their members before industrial tribunals and courts and work with government on policy matters ranging from employment issues to economic and social policy. Despite the claims of those opposite, Labor supports strong and proportionate regulation of registered organisations and unions.

But it comes as no surprise to anyone that this government is constantly being overly alarmist when it comes to any matters remotely related to unions. We of course understand that Australia's trade union movement plays a critical role in our economy. There is a lot to thank unions for—everything from the eight-hour day to better workplace safety, to pushing for equal pay for women, to superannuation and to fighting for Medicare. The trade union movement has an important role to play in Australia's workplaces promoting productivity. Those opposite would have us go down the path of increasing inequality and increasing the entrenched disadvantage that we see in Australia at the moment. Their goal is not to support stronger unions, representing the interests of working people—their goal is to destroy the link between trade unions and the only political party which acts in the interests of working people, the Australian Labor Party. Their goal is to destroy the capacity of trade unions to organise and to bargain collectively. You can see through their mishandling of current public sector agreements they do not even know how to negotiate effectively and in good faith with unions. You could not see a clearer example of the government's antiworker agenda than that.

This government's workplace agenda of course ignores the range of entities and bodies that we have seen under pressure with various ICAC-related issues in New South Wales. But the government is doing nothing to deal with transparency issues around donations. There needs to be a stronger push by the government in regard to that issue over the next couple of months to ensure a review takes place. To wrap up, there is no doubt that this antiworker assault by this government will only continue. We have seen that over the course of the last week and we think that will continue. The government has already said that in media reports over recent days. I oppose the bill.