Jenny Ware (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Bill 2022.

Any industrial relations legislation must encompass increases both in productivity and real wages. This bill does not do this. Before they were in government, those opposite developed a mantra that 'everything is going up except for your wages'. Now that they are in government, their own budget forecasts show that real wages will not increase in the near future. The minister who introduced this bill said that it will give a better go to the workers. However, there is no evidence that these reforms will actually deliver higher wages. In fact, based on all of the comments from employers so far, the evidence is to the contrary.

The only things that this legislation will increase are strikes and job losses. The two major flaws in this proposed legislation are multi-employer bargaining and the abolition of the Australian Building and Construction Commission. These two propositions, particularly when combined, will mark a return to with Whitlamesque-style industrial relations. No wonder the CFMMEU's Victorian secretary, John Setka, said he was impressed by the minister's move to scrap the ABCC and the building code. Mr Setka specifically said, 'We will now have the power to go after non-union sites'. That was John Setka on 28 October 2022.

Business groups across Australia—small, medium and large—are united in their opposition to the changes, in particular to the multi-employer bargaining. Of particular concern is the fact that the bill, if passed, will allow unions into small businesses which have never before had to deal with them. Small businesses are being unfairly targeted here. For small businesses the changes proposed in this bill will be complicated and expensive. Small businesses don't have HR departments and lawyers on standby to help them wade through these complex changes. In this economic climate, one would hope that the government would be doing all it can to make life easier for small businesses, particularly those that are building our houses, constructing our apartments and building our infrastructure. Given the Albanese government's stated commitment to increasing housing opportunities for all Australians, one would expect that the government would be doing all it can to ease the burdens, particularly on the building and construction industry.

Within my electorate of Hughes this bill is important for two reasons. Firstly, more than 20 per cent of my electorate are employed in the building and construction industry, many as the owners of small businesses. Secondly, the current median house price in Hughes sits at around $1.5 million, with more than 25,000 households with mortgages. Cost of housing is very important to my constituents. It was not very long ago that Australians purchased their first home and the cost was around 3.3 times the average Australian income. It now sits at just over 10 times. The building and construction industry provides a clear correlation to the cost of Australian housing.

Let's look at the history of the commission. It was established in part, by the coalition government, to help alleviate the soaring costs of housing by seeking compliance with workplace relations law within the building and construction industry. In this place, we speak often about integrity, transparency and good governance. It is therefore incredulous that in one of its first acts of power the Albanese Labor government has once again embraced its union family and is busily dismantling the construction watchdog.

The construction industry is Australia's fifth-largest industry in terms of gross domestic product. It contributes around eight per cent of GDP and employs over 1.1 million Australians. The largest employer industry in the Hughes electorate is the construction industry. These are mostly small business owners, sole traders, mum and dad construction businesses. The building commission has worked hard to protect these small businesses from bullying, intimidation and coercion by unions.

We also speak about women in the workplace. Around 150,000 women work on construction sites in Australia. The government itself is aware of the well-publicised reports of bullying and sexual harassment against women on construction sites. Language and behaviour that we're trying to curb in this workplace is now going to be given carte blanche if the building commission is abolished.

If we look at the history of the commission it has had many successes in the courts. As a result of its investigations the CFMMEU are currently respondents in countless matters that are currently before the courts. It has been awarded almost $2 million in penalties against it in the last financial year. The commission has achieved a successful outcome in 80 of 88 cases resolved against the CFMMEU. This is a success rate of 91 per cent. This figure alone suggests that the ABCC must be retained. It is no wonder that John Setka has embraced this bill. When the former Rudd government commissioned the late Hon. Justice Murray Wilcox KC to report on the building and construction industry, His Honour recommended that a specialist construction inquiry body be retained. When even a Labor government report acknowledges the need for a building and construction regulator, it is clear that the new Albanese government is ignoring advice, intending to repeat the errors of the Rudd government with industrial relations and place its friendship with unions above safety, integrity, and productivity on building sites. An industrial relations framework must be designed to lift both productivity and wages. Instead, this legislation will do neither.

And it's not just us on this side of the House that do not like the bill, and in that regard I note the comments made earlier today by the member for Griffith. Looking at what business groups have said recently, Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Andrew McKellar said that compulsory multi-employer bargaining is a seismic shift to Australia's workplace relations system. Jennifer Westacott of the Business Council of Australia has said:

We want wages to go up but that won't be achieved by creating more complexity, more strikes and higher unemployment.

The overwhelming number of issues in Labor's bill relate to bargaining, particularly the provisions relating to multi-employer bargaining. Compulsory multi-employer bargaining reverses decades of consensus within the workplace relations system. This bill allows the Fair Work Commission to authorise workers with common interests to bargain together. Unions will now be able to apply to compel employers to bargain together if the move has the support of the majority of employees, backed by the right to strike.

I've had feedback from small businesses in my electorate raising concerns about the proposed allowance of multi-employer bargaining. Small-business owners, who will almost always work in the business themselves, will now have to spend a significant amount of time away from their work, negotiating a joint bargaining position with other employers. These are small businesses who don't have large HR departments and don't have large teams of lawyers on hand to assist them. After some form of agreement, the small-business owners would then need to negotiate with salaried union representatives who don't have a small business on the line and who have significantly more time to dedicate to this process. It is incumbent upon all of us to protect small business, the engine room of our economy. I urge this government to think very carefully about increasing the difficulties for small business that will occur if this bill is made law.

To conclude, I note that there are two fundamental flaws with this legislation.

An honourable member: Only two?

'Fundamental'. The first is the abolition of the Australian Building and Construction Commission, which has provided industrial relations protections to the building and construction industry and to workers for many years. It must be maintained. Secondly, compulsory employer bargaining should be looked at and removed. I urge the government to rethink this bill, especially around the abolition of those two. Thank you.

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