Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

he ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT ( Senator Polley ) (): The Senate will now consider the proposal from Senator Cash:

Pursuant to standing order 75, I propose that the following matter of public importance be submitted to the Senate for discussion:

The Albanese Labor Government's flawed industrial relations policies, especially the abolition of the Australian Building and Construction Commission, giving the militant CFMMEU the green light to intimidatory, inflationary and productivity sapping behaviour across the building and construction industry.

Is the proposal supported?

More than the number of senators required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

I understand informal arrangements have been made to allocate specific times to each of the speakers in today's debate. With the concurrence of the Senate, I ask the clerks to set the clock accordingly.

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As we all know, life is full of great ironies. I have to say that one of the ironies that will soon become apparent later today is that in the same week that the Australian parliament is setting up the National Anti-Corruption Commission, the Albanese government will formally hand the construction industry over to the most militant union in Australia, with the formal abolition of the ABCC. That is right—it's one of life's great ironies. There will be this handstand today and there'll be a press conference tonight. Mr Albanese will say, 'My government has put in place the National Anti-Corruption Commission.' But, at the same time, he will conveniently forget to tell Australians that within about 48 hours his government will also abolish the building industry watchdog and, again, officially hand the building sector in Australia over to John Setka—he's rubbing his hands together, and I've got a bit to say about him shortly—and the most militant union in Australia.

But it's not really ironic—I say that tongue in cheek. Why is it not ironic? That's because one only has to look at the amount of money that the Australian Labor Party has received from the most militant union in Australia and the MUA over the past 20 years. One might ask, 'How much money is that?' Let's have a look: $16.3 million has gone directly from the most militant union in Australia and the MUA into the Australian Labor Party's coffers. So it should not come as a surprise, colleagues, when I say that the CFMMEU was one of Labor's biggest financial donors in 2020-2021. It provided them with almost $1 million in payments. Total union funds to the Australian Labor Party, headed up at this point in time by Prime Minister Albanese, for the financial years 2018 through to 2020 was $19,305,806.

So, again, it is a little ironic that with a vote this afternoon the Labor Party establishes a National Anti-Corruption Commission. We won't talk about the fact that officials from registered organisations are exempt from certain parts, because that would be union officials. But, at the same time, the irony is that they will shortly abolish the Australian Building and Construction Commission and hand the building and construction industry over to the most militant union in Australia.

Why is this an issue? Well, let's have a look at what CFMMEU Victorian secretary John Setka said recently, as reported. He said he was actually—you'll be unsurprised, colleagues—'impressed' by Tony Burke's move to scrap the ABCC and the Building Code. And in a letter to members as reported on 28 October 2022 he said:

Without going the early crow, I'm hoping that this government is going to be different (from the Rudd-Gillard governments) and from what Our next EBA negotiations are now not going to be restricted to shit clauses and we will have the power to go after the non-union sites.

I give credit to Mr Setka—and it's not often that I do—because at least Mr Setka has called out the blindingly obvious: 'thank you very much', from John Setka of the CFMMEU to Mr Albanese, Mr Burke and those who give money directly to the Labor Party's coffers.

But what's of more concern is this. When it comes to handing the building industry over to the most militant union in Australia, let's just remind ourselves of why it is so dangerous for women. Those on the other side will stand up and say they have the best interests of women in Australia at heart with all their policies. Well, I have to say: again, one of life's ironies, given that the lawless activities of John Setka's CFMMEU include alleged threats to kill, rape and sexually assault women. A CFMMEU official jailed for assault once told a female inspector she was an effing S-L-U-T, asking her whether she had brought kneepads, as 'You are going to be sucking on these effing dogs all day.' A second CFMMEU official made three phone calls late at night to a female inspector's mobile phone. In the last call, logged at 11.23 pm, one caller said, 'You are an effing rat.' Another caller said, 'Me and my seven mates are going to come and eff you.'

But guess what? None of that actually matters, because the money has flowed from the most militant union into the ALP's coffers to the tune of millions and millions of dollars. It's time now to pay the paymaster, and that is exactly what Mr Albanese is doing.

Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, isn't it interesting? Here we have the Liberal Party, the LNP, talking about donations. But of course what they don't talk about is Gerry Hanssen, who has given at least $175,000 in donations to the Liberal Party since 2014—and this is a great person who's standing by women's rights! Marianka Heumann, a 27-year-old German backpacker, fell to her death on a Hanssen worksite in October 2016. Hanssen was fined $60,000 for health and safety violations. There have been multiple media reports about allegations of Hanssen Pty Ltd being involved in sham contracting and underpayments to workers. But where was the ABCC? They were nowhere to be found, because that would have meant that you had to go after one of the Liberal Party donors. Heaven forbid if that had happened!

Let's look at what's been happening with regard to the ABCC. And don't worry about what I've got to say. Let's start talking about what a number of judges have to say, because it's very enlightening. Justice North in 2017-18 blasted the ABCC for prosecuting two CFMMEU officials for having a cup of tea with a mate. Get that: 'teagate'! They just started spending tens upon tens upon tens of thousands of dollars on someone having a cup of tea! The judge called it a 'minuscule, insignificant affair'. He also said:

This is all external forces that are beating up what's just a really ordinary situation that amounts to virtually nothing.

And:

For goodness sake, I don't know what this inspectorate is doing.

He went on to say that 'when the ABCC uses public resources to bring the bar down to this level it really calls into question the exercise of the discretion to proceed'. The fact is, there are organisations—and so there should be—to hold employers, and everybody else, to account on what happens on building sites, workplaces, companies, corporations and this parliament. That's one of the things that's really important.

We didn't see a positive duty-of-care support to prevent sexual harassment from Respect@Work from the opposition, because the coalition didn't want to support that. They didn't want to support that. Of course they didn't want to support it, because they're not about supporting people. They're about supporting people like Gerry Hanssen. They did not want to support industrial manslaughter laws when 154 construction workers died between 2016 and 2020, because that would be holding people like Gerry Hanssen, those sorts of people, to account. They don't want to do that. That's just too difficult.

Justice Kerr, slamming the ABCC in 2021, described a case of the ABCC over-egging its case, being a battleship in full steam which had difficulty turning and conducting proceedings as a blood sport. That's how a judge— Justice Kerr—described the ABCC's approach in 2021. But don't worry! There are some even more recent cases.

In 2022 Justice Katzman criticised the ABCC for misrepresentation of evidence and filing court proceedings that were unnecessarily inflammatory. Then you go to the ABCC spending $488,000 pursuing Lendlease over Eureka flags. Then you go to $495,000 unsuccessfully pursuing a union because they demanded a women's toilet on a work site. You've got the cup of tea, you've got toilet-gate, you've got tea-gate and you've got flag-gate. They're spending a pile of money which judge after judge has said is inappropriate and immaterial. This does not actually turn around. But don't worry! They want to tell us that this is all about productivity.

The opposition tells us this is all about productivity. Let's look at the actual productivity in the construction industry. You won't be surprised that, during the period the ABCC has been in existence—labour productivity was down 2.4 per cent in 2017-18. Maybe they will get their act together and it will improve! Labour productivity was down 2.6 per cent in 2018-19. Maybe they will reach a crescendo of good productivity! In 2019-20 it went down another 2.6 per cent. Outside the time when the ABCC has been there, productivity has been improving because companies have been improving their arrangements, improving their skills and improving their performance rather than turning around and beating the drum on behalf of the government.

Sarah Henderson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

SON () (): There are giants in politics, and one of those giants was former Labor Prime Minister Bob Hawke. If he were alive today he would be disgusted. He would be disgusted that this Labor government, led by the most extreme left-wing Prime Minister in living memory, is pushing through some of the most extreme IR laws, which will send our country backwards, cost thousands of jobs and put our small and medium-sized businesses at the mercy of unscrupulous unions. He would be disgusted that this nation is now run by the unions because that is exactly what is happening here. He would be disgusted that this Labor government was not putting the interests of Australians first.

In 1983 he forged the historic accord between Labor and the ACTU in collaboration with business. He kept the unions at bay, in stark contrast to this Labor government, which, despite the gravest of concerns being raised by every employer group in the country, is determined to serve their paymasters at any cost. If Labor's extreme changes, which force pattern bargaining onto a large part of the economy, were in the best interests of Australia, Anthony Albanese would not have kept this dirty, rotten plan—

Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Henderson, would you mind taking your seat for a moment. I would like to remind senators that senators should be heard in silence and it is disorderly to keep interjecting.

Sarah Henderson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If Labor's extreme changes, which force pattern bargaining onto a large part of the economy, were in the best interests of Australia, Mr Albanese would not have kept this dirty, rotten plan a secret before the election. The abolition of the ABCC is another step into the Dark Ages, demonstrating that the unions are running the show. In the case of the abolition of the ABCC, it's all about propping up the CFMMEU.

Bob Hawke had the guts to deregister the rogue BLF. In 2016 he said:

The unions need to clean up their act and get their house in order. It just is appalling.

He said:

… I wouldn't tolerate it. You know what I did with the Builders Labourers Federation—I would throw them out.

As we've heard from Senator Cash, things have just got worse. The ALP is receiving, on average, nearly a million dollars a year in donations from the CFMMEU and the MUA, and that's been the case over the past two decades. The abolition of the ABCC is nothing more than payback. Total union funds to the ALP since the 2018-20 financial year are almost $20 million.

The fact of the matter is that Mr Albanese is too weak to stand up to John Setka and the CFMMEU and he's already given in to this demand. What else is next? Labor is turning a blind eye to the findings from royal commissions and countless rulings from the courts, which have highlighted the lawlessness and intimidation of the unions and the need for strong workplace regulations. Labor is happy to hand the keys to the front gates and lunchrooms at building sites back to the CFMMEU. It is an absolute disgrace. It is a scandal. It is a scandal that officials from registered organisations, of course including union officials, are exempt from the National Anti-Corruption Commission. It's a scandal that, despite the appalling treatment of women on building sites, the Labor government is working hand in glove with this union.

Let me remind all senators here today that the High Court has found that the CFMMEU was a serial offender, which engages in whatever action and makes whatever threats it wishes without regard to the law. It has contravened the laws on approximately 150 occasions. It was well resourced. These fines are just the cost of doing business. The lawlessness on building sites when the CFMMEU were in charge was frightening. The ABCC did so much important work to make sure that the interests of all Australians came first.

It is an absolute disgrace that this Labor government hasn't got the guts to stand up to the lawlessness of the likes of the CFMMEU—unlike one of the giants of the Labor Party, Bob Hawke. As I said, he would be rolling in his grave if he could see how this Labor government has diminished the best interests of all Australians.

Karen Grogan (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I stand here proudly to reaffirm our intention to abolish the ineffective and the highly politicised ABCC. It has promoted the coalition's objective of maintaining an adversarial industrial relations system with low wage rises as a deliberate design feature.

The Labor government believes agreements can be reached on work sites and that we can obtain a balance. We know that there are employers out there who are raring to take advantage of Labor's industrial relations policies. They don't want this ideological mud wrestling that we've got going on here. They don't want all of this yelling, shouting and carrying on, and the highlighting of small parts of particular areas, rather than looking overall at what these changes will do. They don't have any respect for workers. But not all employers want to crush workers. That is just not true, but it is what those opposite would have us believe.

The ABCC is intentionally adversarial with no real traction or outcomes to speak of. Only a handful of the current Australian Building and Construction Commission legal cases actually involve some of the cool things they were set up for. They don't involve underpayment to a worker. They don't involve delayed payments to a subcontractor. What they involve, in the main, is the prosecution of union officials and delegates, or should I say the persecution because the ideological manner in which they roll is unforgiveable. Did the ABCC recover wages for workers? No. A total of $5.9 million in seven years. Let's just compare this $5.9 million in seven years to the $530 million that the Fair Work Ombudsman recovered in one year alone or even the $17 million that the CFMMEU recovered in just six months. I think we can see quite clearly where their priorities are. The ABCC is ineffective and a waste of taxpayer money. It's been a disaster for productivity in the sector, and it's done little to deal with any of the exploitation of workers that we have seen.

Let's have a little revisit to the productivity data which Senator Sheldon went through before. It was declined every single year while the ABCC was the regulator pre-pandemic. Every year there was a decline. Every year there was a decline of over two per cent: 2.4 per cent in 2017-18, 2.6 per cent in 2018-19 and 2.6 per cent again in 2019-20. So, we have productivity fail and we have wage theft recovery fail.

How did they go on the prosecution? My colleague went through some of those cases. Let me tell you how much those cases that Senator Sheldon referred to cost. The Eureka flags: basically having a flag or a few stickers on a worksite is such a major drama for the ABCC that they spent over $488,000 pursuing Lendlease over it. Then we had the issue of the women's toilet on a worksite, which was pursued at a total cost of $495,000. And, as for the cup of tea, that's just ridiculous! I will point to what the judge said:

I hold the clear view that this is a case where the ABCC should be publicly exposed as having wasted public money without a proper basis for doing so …

So, the ABCC is a waste of time and a waste of money.

The hostility against the rank-and-file workers in the CFMMEU is deplorable. The CFMMEU is an amalgamation of great many unions, many with their own very proud histories. I do not stand here for one moment and defend any illegal activities, but I will tell you that those workers, those union members, are out there and they represent the solidarity of thousands of hardworking Australians across a vast range of industries that Australians rely on. Those opposite undermine the thousands of hardworking unionists, hardworking people in Australia, working in industries that our country relies on.

Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I've got no issue with unions. My father was a proud member of a union. My mother was, and sister is. I've got no issue with unions whatsoever, but this country has a problem with the construction division of the CFMMEU. There's been a lot of talk about judges et cetera. I want the people listening to this debate to listen to what our highest court said. Our highest court in the land is the High Court of Australia and has our seven most pre-eminent judges. This is what they said about the construction division of the CFMMEU. These aren't the words of a politician, from either government or opposition. This is our highest court in the land about the construction division of the CFMMEU, and it tells you everything you need to know about why we need the Australian Building and Construction Commission as the cop on the beat in terms of construction sites in this country. This is what the High Court said in paragraph 43 of their judgement in the Pattinson case:

The CFMMEU's continuing defiance of s 349(1) indicates that it regards the penalties previously imposed as an 'acceptable cost of doing business'.

Those aren't my words. They aren't the words of a member of the government benches in the Senate. They're the words of our highest court in the land, and, in those circumstances, why would you possibly think it's a good idea to abolish the Australian Building and Construction Commission?

There was talk about the success rate of the Australian Building and Construction Commission. Everyone listening to this debate can look up their latest annual report. It provides all the details you need to see. In terms of the court proceedings they initiated during the 12 months ending 30 June 2022, they had a 100 per cent success rate. They won every single case. In every single case where they brought proceedings, the independent court found that the CFMMEU construction division had broken the law. In those circumstances, why would you possibly think it would be a good idea to abolish the Australian Building and Construction Commission?

I will tell you why: because if you go to page 44 of the annual report of the Australian Building and Construction Commission, you will see a reference to a Mr Michael Ravbar. He was a senior official of the CFMMEU construction division. He sat—I'm not sure if he still does—on the national executive of the Australian Labor Party. Mr Michael Ravbar was sitting on their national executive. Let's read about him. I'll go to the footnote. Senators in this place know I like to go to the footnotes. It says:

In September 2021, Mr Ravbar abandoned his application with the Fair Work Commission to renew his federal right of entry permit—

which gives him the right to go onto construction sites—

and is no longer authorised to exercise entry rights in accordance with the Fair Work Act 2009. The Australian Building and Construction Commissioner intervened in the proceeding, arguing Mr Ravbar was not a fit and proper person to hold a permit.

He was not a fit and proper person to hold a right of entry permit to go onto construction sites. Why? Because, and again I quote:

In opposing the application for the permit, the Commissioner submitted that under Mr Ravbar's watch—

this is a senior official of the CFMMEU and also a previous or current member of the ALP national executive—

the QLD Division and its officials had contravened industrial law on 175 occasions …

This fellow was sitting on the national executive of the Australian Labor Party. It's outrageous. It's absolutely outrageous.

The situation in Queensland got so bad that workplace health and safety inspectors—who had the statutory obligation to go onto construction sites and make sure those construction sites were adhering to workplace health and safety laws—went on strike because they were concerned about their own personal safety from the CFMMEU. That's how bad it is. In the face of all that objective evidence, in the face of that judgement from the highest court in the land, the Australian Labor Party wants to abolish the ABCC. It's shameful.

Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time for discussion has expired.