Madonna Jarrett (Brisbane, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Let me be clear from the outset. This government will not tolerate corruption, criminality or violence in any workplace, including in the construction industry. But what we will tolerate are strong and effective unions that are there to look after workers and stop them being exploited. I'm a proud unionist. I come from a union family. I've seen what a positive difference unions make to individual workers and their families. The problems that we see in the construction industry are not the norm in the Labor movement; they're deeply embedded and have been decades in the making, and they won't be solved overnight.

But let's get one thing straight. I agree in some respects with some of the words from the member for Wentworth—under the coalition's nine years of failed leadership, the discredited Australian Building and Construction Code, ABCC, failed to deal with the problems within the CFMEU or within the construction industry. It failed. Those opposite were running around beating their chests and saying what a great cop the ABCC was going to be. Instead, we saw the exact opposite in terms of culture in the construction industry. A bad culture was allowed to flourish under their watch. Multiple individuals were involved. They were involved in corruption, criminality and violence, all while retaining their positions to continue to conduct unlawful activities.

Now, Labor is acting to clean up the mess. As the member for Petrie talked about earlier, following multiple referrals from the Albanese Labor government, our regulators and law enforcement agencies are working together through the joint agency working group to take strong action to stamp out corruption, criminality and violence. We've also taken real action to stamp out corruption in the CFMEU's construction division by placing them under administration for a period of five years.

A lot has been done in this time. Under the administration for the last 15 months there's been the removal of and acceptance of resignations from about 60 people. They've developed a national code of conduct and statement of expectations for staff and made it absolutely clear where the union stands when it comes to gifts, organised crime and menacing behaviours and what the consequences will be. They've also established several inquiries into state branches of the CFMEU.

On this side of the House, we believe in the right to organise and the right to join a union. The Labor Party was born out of the labour movement. That's why I'm proud to be part of a government that is the delivering for Australian workers. We have a wonderful resume of achievements since coming to office. What's Labor done? We've introduced multi-employer bargaining. In 2022 the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Act enabled employees in certain sectors, such as child care and aged care, to bargain collectively across employers. We increased the minimum wage by 3.75 per cent, directly impacting 2.6 million workers. We made wage theft illegal by introducing criminal penalties as part of the closing the loophole reform. We've reduced the gender pay gap through reforms, including requiring large employers to report their gender pay gap, prohibiting pay secrecy clauses and introducing super paid on government parental leave. We've enhanced delegates' rights with reforms to strengthen the rights of union delegates in the workplace. We've legislated the right for employees to disconnect from work related communications outside their work hours. There have been changes to labour hire. Labour hire workers have new rules to potentially increase their pay. There is a national labour hire licensing scheme being established. There's a ban on non-compete clauses for workers earning under $175,000. Last week, we saw payday super, where workers will now be paid their superannuation the same day they get paid.

But it's not just industrial relations reforms that this government has introduced that has been good for workers. A tax cut for every Australian has delivered for working people. Being able to see a GP for free delivers for working people. Cheaper child care, energy relief and a five per cent deposit—these all deliver for working people. While those opposite will take every opportunity to attack working people, this Labor government will always stand up for working people and their families.

As I said, the Labor Party was born out of the labour movement, and that's why I'm so proud to be standing here today talking about the importance of what Labor is delivering for workers and why we need a strong union and labour movement. The problems in the construction industry are not the norm, and it's taken the Labor government to clean them up—because we want to see a strong and effective labour movement.

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