Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the documents.

It's very interesting when you look at the documents that have been provided by the minister on behalf of the minister for workplace relations. What is very clear from these documents—or, should I say, from the lack of documents but in particular in relation to the redactions and the public interest immunity claims that have been made, plus everything else that has been said on behalf of the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations in the chamber this week—is there is no question whatsoever that the Albanese government did not in any way consult with key stakeholders in the construction industry and in fact did not consult with the Australian Building and Construction Commission itself before making the snap announcement on 24 July 2022, in the media, that the Australian Building and Construction Commission, via the Building Code being stripped back to its bare legal minimum, would be neutered.

That doesn't surprise anybody. But what it shows is this: when Mr Albanese went to the election he went on a platform of integrity and transparency—and, in fact, when you look at the code of conduct in place for Mr Albanese's ministers it says:

The Albanese Government is committed to integrity, honesty and accountability and Ministers in my Government (including Assistant Ministers) will observe standards of probity, governance and behaviour worthy of the Australian people.

When you then turn to key principles, 1.3(ii) states:

Ministers must observe fairness in making official decisions—that is, to act honestly and reasonably—

and here is the part that becomes interesting—

with consultation as appropriate to the matter at issue, taking proper account of the merits of the matter, and giving due consideration to the rights and interests of the persons involved, and the interests of Australia.

You then go to public interest and fairness, in part 2 of the document:

Ministers are expected to conduct all official business on the basis that they may be expected to demonstrate publicly that their actions and decisions in conducting public business were taken with the sole objective of advancing the public interest.

You see, this is where the minister fails. This is where the Albanese government fails. Despite the code of conduct, despite the fact they had a platform of transparency and integrity, they have failed at the very first hurdle. The documents that have been tabled in response to my order for the production of documents show that.

Despite Mr Albanese saying 'I expect my ministers to consult', the only consultation that took place—this was confirmed by Minister Watt, who represents the minister for workplace relations in this place. This was confirmed by Minister Watt in response to a question I asked during Senate question time. Minister Watt confirmed on behalf of the minister that no consultation had occurred with the actual regulator, the Australian Building and Construction Commission. That, quite frankly, shows a complete lack of respect, regardless of whether or not you are ideologically opposed to the building regulator. The fact that you do not consult with them and the 150 employees employed by the regulator—they instead have to find out they are effectively being neutered and pulled back to their bare legal minimum—