The Labor Government’s decision to neuter the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) is deeply concerning.
In the very first week of parliament, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has demonstrated his commitment to his union mates, the CFMMEU, by stripping back the powers of its watchdog to “the bare legal minimum”.
The CFMMEU has been dragged to court for multiple of cases of assault and intimidation and is notorious for their associations with bikie clubs linked with criminal behaviour.
Make no mistake, this decision will result in delays, increased costs that will be borne by the building and construction industry.
This industry brings $140 billion into the economy and is the nation’s fifth largest industry. It employs 1.1 million Australians and around 400,000 small and family businesses. We can expect lawlessness to rise and jobs to be lost by those not subscribing to the union. Unruly worksite behaviour will increase, building costs will rise and small and family businesses will fold.
When the Coalition reinstated the ABCC in 2016, incidents of lawlessness, along with lost working days decreased. They have successfully litigated 91 per cent of their 110 cases since this time.
While the Labor Party insists the decision to destroy the ABCC was made to stamp out the prosecution of trivial cases about stickers and union flags, in fact, the ABCC commissioner said this week, their primary action was litigating threats to kick out non-union workers from building sites.
Workers, families and consumers and deserve more – their industry ought to be protected.
It is quite remarkable that the now government who campaigned on a promised integrity commission ‘with teeth’ just months ago, have made the ABCC a toothless tiger in their first sitting week.
Residents in Mallee are facing many pressures right now – cost of living, sky rocketing energy prices, the threat of foot and mouth disease, lumpy skin disease, varroa mite, to name a few. Instead the new government has decided that the first point of business should be minimising oversight and accountability.
The CFMMEU is a known donor of the Labor Party to the tune of $5 million. It’s safe to assume this price tag came with policy expectations in return.
