Ron Boswell (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, my question is to the Minister for Employment, Senator Abetz. I refer the minister to comments made by the Boral chief executive—

Honourable Senators:

Honourable senators interjecting—

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I need to hear the question.

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I need to hear the question. Senator Boswell, I will give you the call when you are entitled to it, and that will be when there is silence.

Ron Boswell (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I refer the minister to comments made by Boral chief executive Mike Kane in relation to the thuggery and unlawful activity engaged in by the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union. Can the minister advise the Senate what steps the government is taking to restore the rule of law in the building and construction industry?

Honourable senators interjecting—

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Abetz is not going to start at this stage because he is being interrupted by both sides. Senator Abetz is entitled to be heard in silence.

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The statement by Boral chief executive Mike Kane that the thuggery and unlawful activity of the CFMEU is costing them between $10 million and $12 million a year confirms the correctness of the coalition commitment to re-establish the Australian Building and Construction Commission. According to Mr Kane, 'The government needs to step in and clean out the unlawful activity.'

Senator Boswell, we agree with him. And that is exactly what we are seeking to do. We have already introduced legislation to re-establish the Australian Building and Construction Commission. It will see a return of a tough cop on the beat to protect workers and contractors, improve productivity and restore the rule of law in an industry that Commissioner Cole and Justice Wilcox found was wracked with a culture of lawlessness. Under the ABCC workers were protected, productivity was higher, fewer days were lost to industrial action and the rule of law was respected.

The Green-Labor government deliberately dismantled this successful reform to help their CFMEU mates. Commissioner Cole's findings are as true today as they were in 2001. Senator Wong and Senator Lundy, both former officials of the CFMEU, need to explain why, in the words of Mr Cain, the CFMEU gets a pass on this type of behaviour, but if the company did it they would be prosecuted.

Can I invite those opposite to listen to their own former ACTU president and minister, Martin Ferguson, who said:

Rather than seeing the ABCC as a tool that allows one side to get an upper hand … it should be seen for what it was: a mechanism that holds both sides to account—

(Time expired)

Ron Boswell (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question about this disgraceful behaviour. Can the minister advise the Senate how the previous government's weakening of industrial laws has revived a culture of lawlessness in the building and construction industry?

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In an attempt to satisfy their union paymasters, the Green-Labor government abolished the ABCC. It stripped the new regulator of its powers, took a meat axe to its funding, cutting it by 30 per cent, and cut penalties that could be imposed by two-thirds. The bad old days were back. In the first full year of Labor's toothless mouse, working days lost to industrial action in the building and construction sector tripled. Under Labor the Australian public have now witnessed the ugly public displays of industrial violence and union thuggery at Baiada Poultry, Brisbane Children's Hospital, Myer Emporium, Little Creatures and City West Water. The government has a mandate to remove Labor's unconscionable protection racket and restore the rule of law on construction sites across the country. With your— (Time expired)

Ron Boswell (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Thank you for your very fulsome answer. Can the minister inform the Senate of any impediments to restoring the rule of law in the building and construction industry?

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The greatest impediment is sitting opposite us on the other side. It is quite clear that the Green-Labor senators in this place are adopting the CFMEU tactic of a deliberate go-slow in relation to the legislation—blocking, delaying and sending the legislation to two committees; doing anything but dealing with it appropriately. It is clear that in the last financial year the CFMEU has donated over $600,000 to the ALP. It is clear that the CFMEU has two groups of enforcers that it pays to protect its interests. No. 1 is outlaw motorcycle gangs, and the second lot are those senators sitting opposite: the Green-Labor senators.