Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

So we are focused on action. We want people to get a fair deal. We are focused on action and we are taking action. What the Labor Party is proposing is just another long inquiry.

We talk about ASIC. The ASIC is a tough cop on the financial services beat. It has very, very substantial powers. What is missing at the moment in the construction sector, which employs over a million Australians, is a tough cop on that beat. Well, there was one—the ABCC—and the Labor Party abolished it. What have we seen? We have seen an increase in disputes, a decline in productivity, small businesses being frozen out, cost of projects going up, taxpayers getting ripped off, lawlessness prevailing and over a hundred CFMEU officials before the courts on more than a thousand breaches of industrial law.

So we say what the construction sector needs—it has been demonstrated. We are the tough cop on the beat. Labor took it off—a failure. Now we want to put the tough cop back on the beat in the construction sector. The rule of law must prevail again.

Dr Chalmers interjecting —

Mr Husic interjecting —

Ms O'Neil interjecting —

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