Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise with my colleagues on this side of the House to oppose the Building Industry (Improving Productivity) Bill 2013. It is indeed extraordinary to listen to some of the contributions of members opposite on this bill. It alerts me to the misinformation and the profound anxieties of conservative governments around the matter of organised labour movements. Clearly, organised labour is public enemy no.1, and they will do anything in order to ensure that is rendered as weak as possible.

This bill, of course, was rejected by the Senate in August last year, having first been introduced on 14 November 2013. And it was rejected for good reason. Labor has had a consistent position on this bill. We have opposed the proposed legislation, which forces a return to the draconian Australian Building and Construction Commission or ABCC. The ABCC is based on flawed and often ridiculed modelling and its proposed powers are extreme and unnecessary. They are undemocratic and they compromise civil liberties. Labor opposed the introduction of the ABCC in 2005 when it was first introduced. It is in our platform, and that should come as no shock to members opposite. As I stand here today, our view has not changed. The government has failed to make the case for the re-introduction of these draconian measures.

The foundation of this bill, as the Member for Gorton made clear, is rotten to the core. There is nothing that this anti-worker Liberal government or its $80 million political witch-hunt into the union movement has done to convince us otherwise. To be sure, the royal commission has uncovered some serious and unacceptable examples of poor behaviour. Shameful stealing from workers or obtaining unfair benefits is clearly unacceptable behaviour, and Labor has zero tolerance for such betrayals. We are in step with the government on this matter: no level of corruption is acceptable, and those found to be breaking the law should be punished accordingly. Labor has always said that we will consider sensible reforms for unions and workers, but we will not support legislation which aims to destroy strong representatives of working Australians.

It remains the case that, whatever laws are introduced to deal with corruption, we believe they must be universal. That is a simple but fundamental principle of ensuring equality before the law and it is a principle that Labor upholds. Laws should not be unfairly targeting one set of workers. With a return to the ABCC, however, that is exactly what the Liberal government is proposing—unfairly targeting those workers in the building and construction sector.

As I was listening to the contribution from the member for Solomon and her concerns around alleged unlawful behaviour, I was thinking of my annual attendance at a memorial service, hosted by workers from the construction industry, for their members who have died on Australian building sites. Indeed, 71 people have died on building sites in Australia in the last three years. Where is the outrage about worker safety on those sites? Where are the members opposite to say, 'We should be working with unions to ensure there is worker safety on those sites'? We all should agree that the deaths of 71 people who went to work one morning and not returning to their families are utterly unacceptable in Australia. I do not see members opposite when I attend those memorial services—

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