Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise on a matter of public interest to reflect on an adjournment speech that I delivered on 27 March, which specifically addressed the secondary boycott being conducted against Boral, a company operating in my home state of Victoria, by the CFMEU that has been in place since mid-2012, as a result of the union's own war against the building giant, Grocon. Boral was affected by the behaviour of the union, and the black ban is still going on. In March I raised such intimidation as trucks being stopped, workers being intimidated, drivers being harassed and threatened, and clients receiving visits from 'friendly' union officials. Mr Kane, the head of Boral, said that he had exposed 'systemic bullying, harassment, victimisation, physical and financial threats, intimidation, coercion, unlawfulness'. If that behaviour is not enough, this company is being subjected to financial loss as well. So it was not just their workers and clients that were targeted; their business was being damaged and hence their ability to employ other people in the building and construction industry. This sort of unlawful behaviour is simply unacceptable in this day and age.

In my adjournment speech, I chose to address Mr Simms, the head of the ACCC, to say that this is uncompetitive behaviour and it is restricting the ability of a lawful business to go about doing what they do—making money and contributing to our economy and employing people. Mr Simms at the time was claiming a lack of evidence as to why the ACCC was not pursuing the matter. I have since met with Mr Simms and, indeed, he is on the public record as saying that more evidence has come to light. I thank him for pursuing the matter; he has said that the ACCC is pursuing it as a matter of high priority. But here we are well into July, and I cannot find any evidence on the ACCC website of any action other than Mr Simms reiterating his statement that it is a high priority. I will quote him:

Originally when we looked into it, I was in Melbourne when a bit of this occurred … When we talked to people we couldn’t get them to give us much evidence or co-operation.

That has changed: new evidence has come to light and he is pursuing it with apparent vigour. However, we are yet to see an outcome from the ACCC.

I would really recommend that the ACCC move forward on this issue. It is not good enough: Boral says it is losing up to $10-12 million a year because of this behaviour and we need to address it sooner rather than later. As the Master Builders Association said in a submission to the Harper review into competition and consumer law, there are other avenues that we could pursue to address the unlawful behaviour exhibited by the CFMEU. I will quote Richard Calver, the acting CEO of the Master Builders:

The aim of secondary boycotts is to either make builders and suppliers hostage to union demands or to send them to the wall. … Secondary boycotts damage the economy and threaten livelihoods, as well as dampening proper competition.

We have the laws, and Mr Simms will either act on it or, as the Cole Commission recommended, some enforcement mechanisms may have to be given to other bodies, if the ACCC cannot make it happen. I think it was the Cole Commission that recommended that the ABCC be given the powers to enforce laws that prohibit behaviours such as that conducted by the CFMEU against Boral.

I would like to draw the attention of the chamber to a quote from the head of Boral, Mr Kane. He said that Melbourne—my home state—is 'being run by the CFMEU'. He said there is no law; it is a lawless town at the moment. We can enforce the law in regional areas with respect to competition and consumer law; we can enforce it in other capital cities, but in Melbourne it is like a hick town in the wild west when it comes to industrial relations law under the CFMEU.

It is not a safe place to conduct business. It is not a safe place to drive a cement truck. It is not a safe place to be involved in the building and construction industry. In this country, in this day and age, that behaviour is completely unacceptable. Mr Kane today told the royal commission that the government set up to address these issues that the CFMEU acted like 'a cartel'. Now Mr Simms has to act on this behaviour, and I would encourage him to do so.