Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Embarrassing? That's unbelievable. I'll take the interjection. Those opposite have absolutely no idea about the bullying and intimidation. If they were serious, they would know about what happens. Yet, they want to abolish the ABCC. There are builders and subcontractors around this country who may not be members of the CFMMEU, but they are good, hardworking mum-and-dad businesses. All they want to do is go to work, feed their families and put their kids through school. What we see through the bullying tactics of the CFMMEU are things like third line forcing. If you don't sign up to a CFMMEU EBA, you'll be black banned. Not just from this site, but—

Honourable members interjecting—

The member for Eden-Monaro is shaking her head as if the say this doesn't happen. If the member for Eden-Monaro seriously thinks this doesn't happen, she's living in la-la land. This happens around Australia all the time. Small businesses are put out of business, because the CFMMEU drive them out of business. If you have never seen that, member for Eden-Monaro, you have not been involved in the building industry.

This bill will remove and abolish the tough cop on the beat. Let me run through some stats. The Australian Building and Construction Commission was reintroduced in 2016. We went to a double-dissolution election over it. Since that time, since we reintroduced the ABCC—after the Labor Party had abolished it in the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd era—the average rate of industrial days lost per 1,000 employees dropped by 90 per cent. Let me read that again: since the ABCC relaunched, the average rate of industrial days lost per 1,000 employees dropped by 90 per cent. As of September 2022, the ABCC had imposed nearly $18.6 million in penalties and secured almost $13.6 million in payments for contractors since its inception.

Those members opposite talk the big talk about justice and looking after people in the workplace. What they don't talk about is what the Federal Court has consistently said about the CFMMEU: that it is the biggest recidivist organisation in this country. It continuously breaks laws and cops fines but considers those fines as the cost of doing business. What we've heard from those members opposite is, rather than speeches about this bill, more like pre-selection speeches to their own base. But let me keep going: as of 19 September 2022, the ABCC had achieved a successful outcome in 105 of its 114 cases. That's successful outcomes in 105 of 114 cases! That's a rate of 92 per cent—

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