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

My question is to the Minister for Employment, Senator Abetz, and relates to a recent Fair Work Building Industry Inspectorate report which investigated the unexplained abandonment of litigation involving the Victorian desalination plant and other matters. Can the minister inform the Senate of the government's reaction to this report as well as the federal context to the failings detailed within it?

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

Senator McKenzie is quite right as a Victorian senator to be concerned about the activities that were highlighted in that report. They reflect on matters that occurred in the state of Victoria at the desalination plant and elsewhere under the Fair Work Building Industry Inspectorate, as the Labor Party had it.

The government is extremely concerned about this report, which reveals that under Labor's emasculated inspectorate the CFMEU was allowed to get away with blue murder. According to the report, the inspectorate collaborated with the CFMEU to abandon litigation against the union for unlawful industrial action at the Victorian desalination plant. In doing so, the inspectorate knowingly disregarded external legal advice which confirmed there were reasonable prospects of success.

The report also exposes sweetheart deals negotiated between Labor's inspectorate and the CFMEU under which the union received a 50 per cent discount on the inspectorate's assessment of the likely penalties for numerous cases of industrial lawlessness. And you may well ask, 'In exchange for what?' The answer is: absolutely nothing. Under Labor working days lost due to industrial action in the building industry multiplied sevenfold. When Labor came to office it abolished the Australian Building and Construction Commission and replaced it with its weak and ineffectual inspectorate. Labor's inspectorate not only failed to prosecute the CFMEU for its unlawful actions but adopted a policy of appeasement which emboldened the union's militancy. I would urge all senators to support the reintroduction of the ABCC. (Time expired)

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

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Can the minister advise the Senate of any impediments to restoring fairness and the rule of law on building sites across Victoria?

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

The greatest threat to restoring fairness and the rule of law on Victorian building sites is a Labor government led by Daniel Andrews and controlled by the CFMEU. In its recently released election platform Labor has recklessly pledged to abolish the construction code of practice and its compliance unit. The effect of their abolition would be catastrophic. According to the Productivity Commission the Victorian code is the 'most promising policy approach against conduct that leads to high costs, sweetheart deals and coercion'. So successful is the code that earlier this year the Productivity Commission recommended that all Australian governments adopt its framework for their own major infrastructure purchases. An Andrews' Labor government would not only trash the advice of the Productivity Commission but would make more sweetheart deals with the CFMEU. (Time expired)

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

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Can the minister inform the Senate how Victorians can ensure that their building sites will be safer, fairer and more productive?

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

I would encourage Victorians to ask themselves a few questions: would I trust an Andrews' Labor government that is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the CFMEU? Would I trust an Andrews' Labor government in which the planning minister is a proud, passionate and paid-up member of the CFMEU?

I am sure the Labor Party people do not want the Victorian electorate to know that. Would I trust an Andrews Labor government that turns a blind eye to coercion, corruption and criminality simply to appease the CFMEU? If Victorians want safer, fairer and more productive building sites they cannot trust the Labor Party, which is beholden to John Setka and his CFMEU goons. Victorians face a very real choice. They can choose an Andrews Labor government that will act in the vested interests of a corrupt construction union or a Napthine coalition government that will act in the interests of all Victorians. (Time expired)