Lee Rhiannon (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I am continuing my speech on the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Amendment Bill 2014. Yesterday, when I began my speech, I detailed General Abetz's military style operation with attacks on three fronts and how this would be welcome news for the coalition's constituency, the big end of town. The loss of Work Choices and the ABCC would still cause the coalition pain. The coalition know it would still cause the big end of town pain and they know their coalition government has a lot of ground to make up.

Let us remember a bit about the ABCC. It was one of the most biased of the so-called independent agencies any Australian government has ever established. We knew it was bad under the Howard government, but the Abbott government wants it to be even more extreme. During the reign of the previous ABCC, deaths of construction workers increased. Now the current government wants the new ABCC to have wider powers and for there to be reduced union representation and fewer safety measures on the job. Under Abbott's ABCC, a union could be fined more for stopping over a workplace death than an employer would be if they—