Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Multicultural Engagement) Share this | Hansard source

What a shameful state of affairs we find ourselves in. In one of the most important industries in this country, the construction industry, which provides the infrastructure all Australians need—roads, rail, schools, hospitals—and is responsible for many projects building the houses that Australians need in the middle of a chronic housing shortage, we have a union, the CFMEU, that is dominating the industrial relations landscape and is just beyond the pale. The cost of all that public infrastructure is 30 per cent, 40 per cent—goodness knows what per cent—more because of the CFMEU and the way it conducts itself. Everyone in this parliament knows this has been going on for years and years and years, and yet it's been allowed to persist, until now we've reached this stage. What a shameful state of affairs—which all Australians are paying for.

I would like to congratulate the Australian Financial Review, the Age, the Sydney Morning Herald and 60 Minutes for the investigation they conducted into the unlawful practices of the CFMEU. I want to read from an article that was prepared as part of that investigation, in relation to a young Indigenous Melbourne man by the name of Ben Nash, who took his own life after attending a construction site. He turned up to work at a construction site, came home to his mother and took his own life that night. I'm going to read from this article, and I'd like to specifically acknowledge Ms Tammie Parker, the mother of that young man, for her courage in speaking out:

When Indigenous Melbourne man Ben Nash left for work on the morning of January 24, a day before his 19th birthday, all his mother Tammie knew was that her son was heading to a job he loved.

"He was drawn to civil construction," she says of Ben …

She says he'd overcome mental health issues to throw himself not only into footy, but his dream of building a career in construction. An Indigenous construction firm, Marda Dandhi, had not only offered Ben a job, but gave him what Tammie described as a chance to "just embrace his Indigenous heritage".

"Ben loved it. He couldn't have loved it any more."

But ever since he skipped out the door that January morning, Tammie's days have been marked with discoveries about all that she didn't know and would yet find out.

She didn't know that the construction industry her son was entering was infested with underworld figures and cronyism, fuelled by crooked businesses and certain CFMEU officials who have formed an unholy alliance to control who works, and who doesn't, on major projects.

The article goes on to say that she was unaware that the Indigenous company that had given her son his first start—and how wonderful it is that we have an Indigenous company in the construction industry, providing opportunities for people like Ben—had been targeted by the CFMEU. Nor did she know that, according to the article, a union organiser had, many months earlier, threatened to bash the founder of that company, a gentleman called Mr Danny Miller. A CFMEU official had threatened to bash Miller along with another of Ben's bosses and labelled the pair 'dogs'. The article continues:

Tammie had no idea that a second senior union official had warned her sons bosses that, without CFMEU backing, they would never access any sites funded by the Labor government …

She also wasn't expecting Ben to arrive home early from work distraught that same January day—

Picture the mother of this son, who'd left so excited for the start of his work day and who then comes home and tells his mum that he'd been bullied and humiliated on a building site because the CFMEU was angry because he'd previously been employed by that Indigenous construction firm, Marda Dandhi. There's no compassion; there's no empathy. There's anger. The article goes on:

Tammie didn't know that the next morning, when she was meant to be making him a birthday brekkie, she would instead find him in his bed, his lips blue and skin cold—

It's difficult to read. It goes on:

It will ultimately be up to a coroner to formally determine the cause of Ben's death, but Tammie is now demanding action against those behind the culture of fear and intimidation in the CFMEU she believes cost her son his life.

These are not a politician's word. These are the words of a mother who lost her son to suicide after he returned home from what was meant to be a day's productive work at a construction site here in Australia. The article continues:

Tammie believes Ben's treatment at work "tipped him over the edge".

Asked who she blames for his death, Tammy utters five letters: "C.F.M.E.U."

She says, in her words:

"According to Ben, he was pulled aside [by an unnamed CFMEU representative] and told that nobody that worked for Marda [Dandhi] would ever be welcome on site again. He was told to f--- off. He just wanted to work. He rang his employer to try and sort something out, and CFMEU wouldn't listen to him. They didn't offer any help. They locked him in a shed for three or four hours, just a young boy with mental health issues."

It's hard for me to read this. What must it have been like for the mother? The article goes on to say:

Nash's death, and his mother's determination to make something good of it, gives a human face—that of the ordinary suburban Australian worker—to an unfolding catalogue of construction union badness. The CFMEU denies responsibility for the death.

…   …   …

Over the weekend The Australian Financial Review and 60 Minutes also published covert video of the union official threatening to bash the two owners of Nash's company and an industry fixer—caught in a covert sting—who claimed to be able to bribe CFMEU officials in order to parachute corrupt companies onto the Victorian and federal government-funded Big Build and force non-preferred companies off sites.

…   …   …

Tammie says Ben's last day alive stands in stark contrast to his earlier time working for Marda Dandhi, a fledgling Indigenous construction firm started by Danny Miller.

According to Miller's LinkedIn profile, Marda Dandhi's vision—

and what a noble vision this is; just listen to this—

was to place Indigenous men and women into long-term, sustainable jobs by equipping them with new skills and a sense of pride and purpose.

The article then says that the founder of that company, Danny Miller, 'declined to be interviewed, with friends saying he's had his own mental health struggles after the firm's collapse.' It goes on to say:

For Ben, Tammie says Marda Dandhi was a "perfect fit".

"They were terrific. Employee welfare is really important to them. I'd be ringing him or messaging him, 'Are you coming home for dinner? …

The article goes on:

Despite initially securing CFMEU and Australian Workers' Union support, the former turned on them. The change in attitude is made clear in covert footage of two senior construction union officials, filmed in March 2022 on a publicly funded Big Build project.

The article says the film records a senior CFMEU official:

… repeatedly threatening to violently bash Miller—

the Indigenous man who started that company with that great vision—

telling him he would "f---ing end you, c--- and you know it, don't f--- with me. I'll f---ing take your soul and I'll rip your f---ing head off. Don't f--- with me, c---. F--- you. You're a f---ing dog.

In what world is that acceptable? The article continues:

The covert video also captures a second high-ranking CFMEU official … warning that any firms without CFMEU backing—in the form of a CFMEU-endorsed enterprise bargaining agreement—would struggle to win work on any big civil sites due to the construction union's control of the Labor government …

It quotes the CFMEU official, 'We've got them all, and youse won't be coming in with our companies.' The article continues:

It was only in January, the day Ben arrived home early, utterly distraught, that Tammie learned of the extent of acrimony between the CFMEU and Marda Dandhi.

He told her he had been bullied by an unnamed CFMEU representative and ordered to sit in a shed for hours because, even though he was working for a new company, Ben had worn a Marda Dandhi T-shirt.

He wore a T-shirt. His mum said:

He was angry and stressed, and yeah, just not himself. He was worried. Yeah. He'd been told that he wasn't welcome on site because of the … shirt that he had on—

a T-shirt. The articles continues:

He told his mum he had been "belittled … yelled at, sworn at and ignored".

"He said, 'I feel sorry for anybody that has ever worked for Danny, because anybody that has ever worked for Marda will never get a job on a CFMEU site ever again'," Tammie said.

Tammie believed Ben's treatment made him fear for his future in a career he had only started:

He was worried about his new job … He was 18 years old, first day on site. No other workers there that he knew. No support.

Consider his vulnerability; consider the vulnerability of this young man. Who was there on that work site, reaching out to support him? He was put in a shed for three or four hours. His mum says:

I thought that's what unions were supposed to do, look after their employees.

The article goes on:

For Tammie, what happened next is a blur. "I asked him if he was OK … and he said, 'Mum, I just need to sleep. I just need to sleep. I just need this to stop.'

"So, he went to bed and I checked up on him at about midnight to make sure he was OK, and he was fine."

But when Ben didn't walk out to the kitchen for breakfast, Tammie checked on her son again.

"He was cold. His lips were blue. He was clearly dead. His girlfriend was hysterical, obviously, we all were. And then it was just calling triple 0. He was gone. There was nothing we could do."

Next came the "most unbelievable pain".

"I just sat outside. The ambos came and the fireys come, police come and detectives come, because Ben was so young and an unexpected death."

Tammie hopes the coroner will get to the bottom of her son's death.

Tammie says CFMEU officials visited her and tried to downplay the role of workplace intimidation in Ben's death. But Tammie isn't buying it.

"Where was the duty of care for my son? Why was he locked in a shed for so long? Why didn't they tell him to turn his shirt inside out?"

"They didn't want him there. They didn't want him on site. They didn't want him there, purely because he was wearing the Marda Dandhi shirt.

"Kids can't go to work and end up dead the next day. No family needs to go through this."

This issue has a human face. It has a human cost, and there are families across Australia who are suffering. Their fathers, brothers, sons and sisters are suffering because of the state of our construction worksites. Action is required, and the coalition has put forward 20 sensible amendments to the legislation which has been put forward by the Labor government. In considering those amendments, I call upon the Labor government to consider the words of Ms Tammie Palmer, who lost her son after he arrived home distraught from one day on a construction worksite in our beautiful country of Australia.