John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Hasluck, a Western Australian member who knows the importance of peace on the building sites of Perth, as other members know the importance of peace on the building sites of other major capitals. I can tell the House that there has been a dramatic reduction in industrial disputes in building and construction. The September quarter of 2006 showed that 1.6 working days were lost per 1,000 employees, compared to the June quarter of 1996 where a staggering 534 working days were lost per 1,000 employees. This change is a direct result of two things: the general industrial relations law changes the government has made and the specific changes which led to the introduction of the Australian Building and Construction Commission, which flowed from the first royal commission conducted by the Hon. Terry Cole QC.

On Tuesday, 15 May, the Master Builders Association suggested that the removal of the building commission—bear in mind, the dismantling of this commission is declared ALP policy and if the Labor Party is elected it will take away this watchdog, which has brought peace, prosperity, hope and optimism to the building and construction industry all around Australia—if those laws were repealed, would potentially result in higher building costs all around Australia. Today the Financial Review reports:

Australia’s biggest builder, led by Leighton Holdings chief executive Wal King, have warned Labor leader Kevin Rudd that the ALP’s industrial relations policies would be ‘very risky and damaging’ to the $50 billion construction industry.

To get an idea of who is licking their lips at the prospect of a Labor victory, I need go no further than my copy of the Weekend Australian where you see a photograph of Kevin Reynolds on a sparkling Perth morning having his breakfast reading his AustralianI think the West Australian is banned by the Labor Party over there, given current disputes between the state government and the editor of that newspaper—as he looks over all that he hopes one day in future to survey. As the paper says:

He can look across the Swan River to the cranes that pepper Perth’s exploding CBD, knowing that should Labor win the next federal electorate, his nemesis—the only authority in 20 years to rein in his hardline and volatile union—will be destroyed.

In other words, Kevin Reynolds is counting the days to the arrival of that great moment when, according to Greg Combet, the unions will run Australia all over again. Greg Combet gave us a glimpse—perhaps an understated glimpse but a glimpse nonetheless—of the world that would be inherited by people like Kevin Reynolds.

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