Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Here we are, dealing with a very important bill that is before this parliament. The Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Amendment (Administration) Bill 2024 is well overdue. We tried to deal with this, when we were in government, in the last term of parliament. Unfortunately, there was no cooperation at all from the then opposition, the Labor Party. The chief cheerleader of the CFMEU in this place is now the minister, and he's been dragged into this situation, along with the Prime Minister, to once and for all—it should be once and for all—deal with the lawlessness, the dysfunction and, as we've seen at times, the corruption that's involved with the CFMEU. It is unacceptable that workers, who need to be represented by a reputable organisation and reputable officeholders, are in a situation where their representation—whatever fees they pay and whatever their involvement in their workplace—is treated in such a poor way as has been done by the CFMEU, demonstrated through what's been revealed.

Over the last few weeks, every time that this issue has been raised in a press conference or in a question, the minister—or, indeed, the Prime Minister—stands up and acts like the thuggery, the lawlessness and the corruption that is occurring within the CFMEU is some revelation, as if they've never heard of it before. I've been here for about five years now, and I have sat through most of the Senate estimates on the education and employment committee. Every time we spoke to the various agencies, whether it be the ABCC when they were here, the ROC or indeed the department, you had the minister at the table—and often it was Senator Watt representing the then workplace minister—defending the CFMEU. We brought to them, time and time again, instances of corruption, instances where courts had found that there were gross breaches of standards that would be acceptable in a workplace and instances of intimidation, particularly with the way women were treated in workplaces, and there was a defence every single time. So, for the minister and the Prime Minister to act like this is the first time that they're hearing about it, like this is some revelation and like this is some surprise fools absolutely no-one, because we know they have been running a protection racket for the CFMEU for far too long.

This bill that is before us is an important bill; however, it does not go far enough. There are amendments that are necessary to improve this bill. It is a step in the right direction, granted, but it needs to go much further, and there have to be some loopholes closed in order for the coalition to support this. We could do this very quickly. We could actually pass this bill today, if those loopholes and those gaps that exist within this bill are addressed. I'm going to take you through some of those today.

It was in the early days of this government that it abolished the ABCC. They couldn't do it quick enough. Again, because they wanted to return their favours to their paymasters and preselectors, they abolished the ABCC with haste. This was the watchdog. This was the fair cop on the beat, as it was put by the then prime minister Tony Abbott, who set up the ABCC in his first term. The first thing this government did, among a number of other things, was abolish the ABCC.

The construction industry needs special attention—more than what the Fair Work Commission can provide in its broad remit. They need a specialist targeted commission to make sure that construction workplaces are able to operate efficiently and without the intimidation and the sorts of behaviours that we've seen occur on construction workplaces. But this government abolished that body within the first few months of forming government. It's a great shame.

This body should be re-established. You can call it something else if you want to save your political face. You can call it something else; I don't care. But you need to create a watchdog, a mechanism, to ensure that Australian workplaces on construction sites are able to operate without the sort of behaviour that we've seen occur on workplaces.

The problem with this bill is that, as Senator Michaelia Cash said in her contribution, we have a situation where the foxes are looking after the henhouse. Now, the rabbits are looking after the cabbage patch when it comes to this situation, because there are so many gaps and so many loopholes. We've got up to, I think, 20 amendments that we'd like to see approved by the Senate to close those loopholes. At a minimum, the legislation should set clear and concise objectives of how the CFMEU needs to change before it's taken out of administration. That's not provided under this bill.

Any business that operates in Australia, anyone that employs anyone in this country, makes sure to set KPIs so that they know what they have to achieve. This administrator needs to have KPIs. Australians need to be able to know what it is that they need to achieve in order to be counted as successful and, certainly, that needs to be in order before the CFMEU—or its future; whatever it might be—is taken out of administration. These KPIs need to be set. This has to be a priority. This needs to be a priority so that we can drive the cultural change that is necessary within that organisation.

It needs to apply to all branches of the CFMEU and not just in some states. It should be everywhere, including Western Australia—my home state. The Premier over there seems to think that there's no problem over in WA. Well, if you talk to any construction firm over there or talk to anyone about the cost of doing business and how that's impacting upon projects that are delivered for Western Australians, be it through the government or through private investment—talk to anyone that's involved—they'll tell you what's going on in workplaces. You can bury your head in the sand as much as you like, but the reality, the truth, speaks for itself. This government needs to get serious about addressing the corruption and the issues that are going on. It needs to be across all states.

Presently, this bill just sunsets after three years, regardless of whether anything is actually achieved by the administration. Again, there are no KPIs, but there's a sunset at three years. All the CFMEU officials need to do is just wait their time. And guess what? There'll be another election, and, by the time three years go by, there will be enough time for those funds that you've been receiving from the CFMEU to be received in time for the next election. That's what that's about. Let's call it for what it is. There should be an extension. It should be at least five years. It needs to be longer; it should be a long time. Three years is ridiculous. It's ridiculous. The remnants of the CFMEU just can't wait it out, and that's what they'll do if that amendment is not passed and that issue not addressed. We'll see them rise up out of the tall grass and rise back from the ashes. That's exactly what we'll see.

The bill gives too much discretion over the administration process to the minister. That's the other problem that needs to be addressed. There's too much discretion over the administration process given to the minister. If anything, there should be more distance between the processes and the minister. There should be a separation here. The minister's hands are all over this. He needs to step back. This bill needs to address that and make sure. At a minimum, this bill should include restoring the ABCC and the ensuring integrity bill, which the former government introduced in 2021. As I stated, there was an opportunity back in the last parliament for this government to address all of these matters through the ensuring integrity bill, but they voted against it. They didn't want to see integrity in workplaces within registered organisations because they are their paymasters. They are beholden to them.

Minister Watt was against those pieces of legislation back then, and he's against them now lock, stock and barrel. But that's what they could be doing. They could implement the ensuring integrity bill. We had a lengthy inquiry about it, so the evidence is already gathered. You could implement those changes right now. You could implement those measures within that bill. Call it whatever you like. Give it a different name so you can save your face; that's fine. But think about the Australian workplaces and workers that need to be protected and properly supported.

Minister Watt on 27 November 2019 said of the ensuring integrity bill:

The original version of this bill was dangerous and extreme … This current version of the bill remains dangerous and extreme.

Is it any wonder the minister is dragging his feet when it comes to transparency with this bill? If the ALP was fair dinkum about this bill, it would be restoring the ABCC. After all, the Labor government abolished this watchdog because the CFMEU wanted it gone. They've got to deal with this. At the time, when the abolishment was occurring, the Master Builders Association warned that there were no grounds to abolish the ABCC or divert from the long-standing bipartisan approach of maintaining special interest relations laws for the building and construction industry. It said:

The work of the ABCC is not yet done and its removal will undo the significant improvements it has delivered for our building and construction industry.

Minister Burke's comments on the ABCC, when he introduced the bill to abolish it on 27 October 2022, were:

The Australian Building and Construction Commission and the Registered Organisations Commission are ineffective and discredited institutions, more concerned about prosecuting workers and their representatives than tackling rampant wage theft or addressing workplace safety, or educating and promoting good workplace relations.

What a crock! This demonstrates that they are out of touch with the reality of what's going on. They are infected with a disease that has them absolutely addicted to the funding and donations that come from the CFMEU and their preselection powers over their organisation as a party. They couldn't be quick enough to get rid of the ABCC. Well, they can deal with that.

Between 2016 and 2022, the CFMEU racked up $19 million in penalties for breaches of workplace laws. In 2017, the judge described the CFMEU as 'the most recidivist corporate offender in Australian history'. Another judge said the CFMEU believe receiving fines was a collateral 'cost of doing industrial business'. In 2018, a judge said the CFMEU 'simply regards itself as free to disobey the law'.

The silence of the Labor Party is deafening on this issue. This bill has to be improved in order for it to pass. We stand willing as a coalition to support the government with this bill if they will pass the very sensible amendments that are necessary to improve this bill.

If we need to examine these amendments by way of an inquiry, we can do that quickly. I'm the deputy chair of the committee that would look at it; I'll work over the weekend if we need to. We can deal with this. We can have this bill passed very quickly. Let's get the feedback from stakeholders. Let's implement these necessary changes. Let's support the amendments that are necessary to ensure that there is good, proper functioning of this organisation. It's necessary for Australian workplaces. We've seen cost overruns at construction sites, on construction projects that Australians rely on, because of the thuggery, intimidation and kickbacks that occur. It's driving up costs for businesses and it's impacting Australians in their everyday lives.