New Bill to Re-Establish the ABCC

Minister for Employment Eric Abetz has just made a very significant announcement: he is introducing legislation to re-establish the Australian Building and Construction Commission to stamp out lawlessness and improve productivity on building sites.

I was particularly pleased to see this, as in late July this year I was charged with chairing a Coalition Working Group to Re-Establish the ABCC. I was joined by my Coalition colleagues Jane Prentice MP, Nola Marino MP and Josh Frydenberg MP. We were asked to consult closely with the building and construction sector and to report to the Leader of the Opposition by 30 August.  The aim was to seek feedback on our policy of reintroducing the ABCC, and to identify issues which would need to be addressed in implementing the policy.

The ABCC was set up in the Howard Government years, as a means of stamping out the inefficiencies and union standover tactics that had plagued this industry. Its establishment was a recommendation of the Cole Royal Commission into the building and construction industry, initiated by Tony Abbott as the responsible Minister.

After coming to power in 2007, Labor abolished the ABCC, following pressure from key construction sector unions such as the CFMEU – a union with a notorious track record of militancy and intimidation. The result was a return to the bad old days of lawlessness in the construction sector.

In a five week period our working group conducted round table consultations with building and construction companies and representative organisations in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth; we met with relevant state Ministers in Victoria and New South Wales; we met with the ACTU and CFMEU; and we met with or received submissions from several industry experts.

We learned about the violence and intimidation which has accompanied industrial action by the CFMEU at many construction sites including the Myer Emporium site in Melbourne.  We heard about the unions’ insistence on construction companies paying for union delegates to work on the site – and spend their time entirely on union business.  We heard stories of union militancy including one instance where the unions shut down a site halfway through a concrete pour – meaning the concrete subsequently had to be jackhammered out at a cost of several hundred thousand dollars and many days’ lost time. 

It was a thoroughly eye opening exercise in finding out that during the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years, the construction sector unions had been engaged in nineteen seventies style militancy and disruption.  Of course the consequence economy-wide has been inefficiency, lost productivity and construction costs being higher than they should be.

At the conclusion of our work we provided a report to then Opposition Leader Abbott and to Senator Eric Abetz - then Shadow Minister for Workplace Relations and now Minister for Employment.  Pleasingly, many findings in our report are reflected in the Building and Construction Industry (Improving Productivity) Bill 2013 which Minister Abetz has now introduced. 

The Bill makes it clear that unlawful action will not be tolerated and there are significant penalties for taking unlawful industrial action, or for engaging in or organising an unlawful picket. It includes measures to improve the bargaining framework to ensure negotiations are sensible and productive; extend coverage of the ABCC’s powers to offshore construction sites; prohibit coercion and discrimination; deliver significant penalties for unlawful action; and give the regulator strong powers.

These are important changes which will encourage productivity and employment growth in the building and construction industry.

Of course now the question will be whether this Bill will pass the Senate.  No doubt the CFMEU will try everything it can to persuade Labor and the Greens to block it (including reminding both parties of the large campaign contributions they have received from the CFMEU.) 

It is clear that the Coalition has a mandate on this issue – we have been very specific about our plan to re-introduce the ABCC, including in our Workplace Relations policy released in May of this year.  

So now Labor and the Greens face a choice. Will they support this Bill which is in the national interest?  Or will they simply look after their union mates?