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

I thank the Manager of Opposition Business and point out that it is the same one that I circulated to you in question time. I would not pull a swiftie on the Manager of Opposition Business in the House. I would pay for it later, so there would be no point. So I move the motion in relation to suspension of standing orders, as amended:

That, in respect of proceedings specifically on the Building and Construction Industry (Improving Productivity) Bill 2013 and the Building and Construction Industry (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2013, so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent the following from occurring:

(1) resumption of debate on the second readings of the bills being called on together and the bills debated cognately, and the first Opposition Member immediately called to speak, followed immediately by the Member for Kennedy;

(2) at the conclusion of the speech of the Member for Kennedy on the second readings of the bills, the Prime Minister being called immediately to conclude the second reading debate and one question then being put immediately on the second readings of both bills, a Governor-General’s message being reported and one question being put immediately on the third readings of both bills; and

(3) any variation to this arrangement to be made only by a motion moved by a Minister.

The government is moving this motion to manage the debate on the Australian Building and Construction Commission. The terms of the motion will allow the opposition spokesman—I assume—to speak for their usual allotted time of half an hour on the bills, and then will allow the member for Kennedy, who has a particular interest and is kind of representing the crossbenchers, to speak on the bills as well. Then the Prime Minister will sum up the ABCC bills, and we intend to try and pass them through the House this afternoon.

We are moving this debate management motion because it is very clear what everybody in the House's view is on the ABCC. In spite of our working very hard to try and get the Leader of the Opposition to unshackle the Labor Party from the CFMEU and from other unions, he has determinedly refused to do so. This bill has been through the House of Representatives twice already. It has been through an exhaustive committee process. It was introduced in the House of Representatives, and the second reading was moved, on 14 November 2013. That was the first bill. The Senate then referred the bills to the Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee on 14 November. A public hearing was then held by that legislation committee. A report was given by the legislation committee.

The second reading debate in the House of Representatives occurred on 2 December 2013. The Senate referred the government's approach to re-establishing the ABCC for inquiry by a different Senate committee, the Senate Education and Employment References Committee, on 4 December. Then the Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills also considered the ABCC bill. The second reading debate in the House of Representatives occurred on 12 December 2013, and the legislation was passed by the House on that occasion.

Then the public hearings of the Senate references committee occurred. The bill was introduced in the Senate, and the second reading was moved, on 11 February 2014. It then went through an exhaustive process. The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights considered the bill. The Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills considered the bill. There was a report by the references committee referred to earlier. Then the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights comments on the bill were tabled in the parliament. Then the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights concluded its considerations of the bills in another round—the third time that the human rights committee had considered the legislation. Then the second reading debate in the Senate occurred, and the second reading was finally negatived on 17 August 2015. So it was considered from 11 February 2014 to 17 August 2015. It passed over a two-year period.

Then it was reintroduced in the House of Representatives on 2 February 2016, this year. The second reading debate occurred on 3 and 4 February, and it was passed on 4 February. The Senate immediately referred the bills again to the Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee, and that reported in February. The bills were introduced in the Senate, and the second reading was moved on 4 February this year, and the legislation was rejected on 18 February April 2016. These are exactly the same bills. Two bills exactly the same have been through the House since 2013. They have been considered, looked at from every single possible angle, by House committees, by Senate committees, by joint committees, by the House of Representatives itself on two occasions—

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