Kelly O'Dwyer (Higgins, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Education representing the Minister for Employment. Will the minister update the House on the government's progress in restoring law and order on worksites in Australia? Who stands in the way of restoring the rule of law in the building and construction industry?

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

I thank the member for Higgins for her question because she, like all members on this side of the House, believes in restoring the rule of law on building and construction sites in Australia, and that is why we are attempting to bring back the Australian Building and Construction Commission. When it was last in existence under the Howard government it saved the Australian economy $7½ billion and improved productivity in building and construction by 16.8 per cent. It was scrapped by the now Leader of the Opposition when he was the Minister for Workplace Relations. Who is standing in the way of restoring the rule of law on building and construction sites? It is the Australian Labor Party. In Victoria, right now, we have a state election where the Leader of the Opposition there, Daniel Andrews, has indicated that he will rip up the Victorian building code—he will rip it up and allow the law of the jungle to operate on building and construction sites in Victoria. The choice on Saturday is between the coalition government, which believes in the rule of law in building and construction, or the Daniel Andrews led Labor Party, which believes in the law of the jungle.

I am asked who is standing in the way. Unfortunately, the person who is most influential on Daniel Andrews in industrial relations is a man called John Setka, the secretary of the CFMEU in Victoria. It is worth finding out who this John Setka is. He has quite a charge sheet. He was allowed to speak at the Victorian ALP conference. He is allowed to donate to the Victorian ALP. He is a member of Daniel Andrews's Socialist Left faction and he is the most influential person in the Victorian Labor Party. If Daniel Andrews wins on Saturday, he will be the second-most powerful person in Victoria.

He did 60 days in jail for contempt of court in 1990. He did four months in jail for contempt of court, a second offence, in 1990 as well—in prison. He was convicted for threatening behaviour by the Federal Magistrates Court in 2008 and fined $6,000. He was found guilty by the Magistrates' Court of the criminal offence of threatening or intimidating a Grocon manager in 2003. He was charged with five charges—two of assault, two of obstruction, and intimidation of Commonwealth officials—in 2009. This is the person Labor wants to put in charge of industrial relations in Victoria.

On Saturday, a vote for the Napthine-Ryan government will keep the rule of law on building and construction. A vote for the Daniel Andrews opposition will put John Setka back at the cabinet table in Victoria, a man with a charge sheet as long as his friend Mick Gatto's.