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

The government will not be supporting the amendment moved by Senator Cameron. In making a few comments, I do note that Senator Cameron is talking to the bill. I would remind the Senate that the bill itself was passed last year by the Senate. All we are looking at tonight is an amendment to the transitional period. I also note that the amendment on sheet 8070 that Senator Cameron has just moved is in identical terms to the one that he moved last year during the debate on the ABCC, and I also note that at that point in time it was rejected by the Senate.

The practical effect of your amendment is to completely throw out the Building Code, holus-bolus, make it null and void, throw it out the window—you obviously know that. That is the effect this amendment would have if it were passed. Ironically, even Bill Shorten's 2013 Building Code would have fallen foul of this amendment, because it too contained requirements in relation to contents of agreements.

Senator Cameron, even though you are prosecuting arguments in relation to the bill which passed the Senate last year, I am going to make a number of comments that go directly to why we are opposing the amendment but also to why there are specific laws in relation to the building and construction industry. I will briefly recap. Several royal commissions have identified systemic unlawful behaviour in the building industry, including illegal industrial action, bullying, threats and intimidation of workers. The Australian Building and Construction Commission currently has 62 matters before the courts, as at 9 February 2017. The majority relate to alleged right-of-entry breaches, coercion and unlawful industrial action. The ABCC currently has 10 submissions and one application before the Fair Work Commission in relation to the right-of-entry permits of 15 CFMEU officials. The CFMEU is respondent in 57 matters currently before the courts. As at 9 February there were 110 CFMEU officials before the courts for 1,078 suspected contraventions.

In the 2015-16 financial year, the courts issued $1.826 million in penalties in Fair Work Building and Construction cases. The vast majority of those fines were against the CFMEU—$1.733 million. This was the fifth time in the history of Fair Work Building and Construction and its predecessors that the penalties awarded throughout the financial year were actually above $1 million. In the current financial year to date, the courts have issued penalties in FWBC/ABCC cases totalling $749,125, and, again, the majority were penalties against the CFMEU and its affiliates. So, in relation to why there is a building code—again, Senator Cameron, you are prosecuting matters in relation to a bill that actually did pass the Senate this year—those are the reasons. But, in relation to your amendment, again I say that the government will not be supporting it. Last year it was rejected by the Senate, and the effect of it, as you well know, is to completely make null and void the Building Code.