Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent the Member for Gorton’s private Members’ business notice relating to the disallowance of sections 11(3)(a) and (c) of the Code for the Tendering and Performance of Building Work 2016, made under section 34 of the Building and Construction Industry (Improving Productivity) Act 2016, and presented to the House on 7 February 2017, being called on immediately.

I have moved this motion because yet again the Labor side are dancing to the tune of the CFMEU when it comes to building and construction here in Australia. I do not intend to delay the House for long on this matter, as I understand that the opposition will agree to the suspension of standing orders, and the member for Fisher will speak on behalf of the government on this disallowance motion, but the reality is that this week the member for Gorton came into the House and put on the Notice Paper a motion to disallow the Building Code under the Australian Building and Construction Commission, a Building Code that will help restore the rule of law on Australian construction sites. Yesterday, coincidentally, the CFMEU began a robocall campaign around Australia—particularly in the member for Indi's electorate—urging people to vote for the member for Gorton's disallowance motion. What a coincidence!

So, yet again, as if we needed any more evidence, the Labor Party is dancing to the tune of the CFMEU. You would think that they would be sick of it by now. We have given them every opportunity to decouple themselves from the union movement: we have introduced the Registered Organisations Commission and we have introduced the Australian Building and Construction Commission—we are restoring the rule of law on building and construction sites around Australia. You would think the Labor Party would be sick of the CFMEU pulling their chain and making them jump to the tune that they are playing, but they are not—they never tire of attaching themselves to one of the most corrupt and evil unions in Australia's history. We know why—it is because the CFMEU, just in the last 12 months, gave the Labor Party $1.3 million to campaign against the Turnbull government. That is on top of the $10 million the CFMEU has given the Labor Party over the last 10 or 15 years.

We have even more evidence from Dean Mighell. Dean Mighell was the former long-term secretary of the ETU in Victoria—quite a famous unionist in Victoria. He said in an email that was provided to the royal commission:

Given that the Federal ALP is desperate for funds, surely we can say that we will help them if and only if, they abolish the ABCC.

I can tell you for a fact that unions are donating to federal Labor for outcomes, not promises. Yet again, this week we are seeing those outcomes being delivered by the Labor Party to the CFMEU. Thank goodness that they are not in government, because last time they were in government they abolished the Australian Building and Construction Commission; they turned back the clock; they brought the CFMEU into the cabinet room and sat them down at the table to help them make decisions; and, when asked about what unions were engaging in this process of donating to the ALP—for outcomes, not promises—Dean Mighell told the royal commission, 'I believe that the CFMEU and some of the other building industry unions were again seeking the abolition of the ABCC as a policy outcome.'

I feel sorry for the member for Gorton. He is basically a decent man. He is not a bad billiard player, but I pity him because he is the poor unfortunate on the Labor Party front bench who is given the job of coming in here and meekly trying to abolish the Building Code, meekly doing the bidding of the CFMEU. He knows how bad that union is. We could give you chapter and verse on how bad the CFMEU is as a union. In the Heydon royal commission—do not take my word for it—the royal commissioner, Justice Heydon, said:

The conduct that has emerged discloses systemic corruption and unlawful conduct, including corrupt payments, physical and verbal violence, threats, intimidation, abuse of right of entry permits, secondary boycotts, breaches of fiduciary duty and contempt of court.

That is what Justice Heydon said about the CFMEU. Yet again we have the Labor Party in here today dancing to the tune of the CFMEU and trying to abolish the Building Code under the ABCC. We will not let them do so. We will call on that debate this morning from the suspension of standing orders. We will defeat that disallowance motion, and the Building Code and the ABCC can get on with their excellent work of restoring the rule of law, increasing productivity in the construction industry, saving consumers money, saving young house buyers money that they would otherwise have to pay because of the inflated prices, one of the reasons for which, of course, is the way industrial relations have been run in this country because of the CFMEU over far too long. We will stand in the way of the CFMEU and we will stand in the way of the Labor Party in their attempts to support the CFMEU. We will stand up for the workers. We will stand up for house buyers and consumers and for productivity in this country.

See this speech in context