Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration) Share this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to have the opportunity to rise to speak on this matter of public importance being put forward by Senator Bragg. The prospect of the CFMEU inserting itself into construction of apartment buildings is horrifying—absolutely horrifying—because, as Senator Bragg has rightly said, there is a CFMEU tax, a tax of an additional 30 per cent on the cost of construction of any piece of infrastructure, including any piece of residential infrastructure.

We've seen that in my home state of Queensland. I have gotten up previously in this place and referred to how, on every single major infrastructure project that has been built in my time in the Senate where the CFMEU has been involved, there has been an absolute blowout in construction costs. I have referred to the Cowboys stadium up in Townsville—a blowout in construction costs. I have referred to the Centenary Bridge duplication—a blowout in construction costs. Even on Ronald McDonald House, which was constructed to assist families whose children were seeking medical treatment in Brisbane, there was a cost blowout as a result of the CFMEU's unlawful action. It was found by the courts of this country to be unlawful, but the CFMEU consistently paid the fines as simply a cost of doing business.

I want to respond to some of the comments which have been made by some of the senators who have contributed to this debate. I note Senator Whiteaker's comments. As a Labor senator, she made no mention of the CFMEU in her contribution to this discussion. Why? Because they're embarrassed about the CFMEU, and rightly so. There was no mention of the CFMEU. Senator Whittaker talked about prefabrication, modular homes et cetera. Can I say to you, Madam Acting Deputy President, that I visited a business in Brisbane in my home state of Queensland that made prefabricated components of bridges, and they were raided by the CFMEU. They weren't in the construction business but in the manufacturing business. They were raided by the CFMEU, and members of the CFMEU even went onto their worksite and took photographs of the licence plates of management's personal vehicles. That's the CFMEU for you—fear, intimidation, harassment and corruption. That's the CFMEU. They are the last people we want involved in the construction of apartment buildings, be it in Queensland or anywhere else in this country.

Then we had Senator Pocock's contribution—Senator Barbara Pocock's contribution, I should make clear. Of course, the Greens always defend the CFMEU. They defended the CFMEU after it entered into administration. The Greens even attended and spoke at CFMEU rallies, for goodness sake!

The only thing I liked about Senator Pocock's speech was that it gave me the opportunity once again to quote from Basic Economics by the great Thomas Sowell. Again, the Greens are talking about rent control as if rent control is going to fix all the world's problems. I want to quote from my book Basic Economics, and thank you, Senator Barbara Pocock, for giving me the opportunity. Let's see what's happened under rent control. It's been tried everywhere in the world, and I'll remind the chamber: 'Nine years after the end of World War II, not a single new building had been built in Melbourne, Australia, because of rent control laws'—that's Australia. Let's go to Egypt: 'The end result of rent controls in Egypt was that people stopped investment in apartment buildings, and a huge shortage of rentals and housing forced many Egyptians to live in horrible conditions'—that's Egypt. Let's go to California: 'After rent control was instituted in Santa Monica, California, in 1979, building permits declined to less than one-tenth of what they were just five years earlier.' Let's go to page 45, England and Wales: 'Privately built rental housing fell from being 61 per cent of all housing in 1947 to just 14 per cent by 1977 under rent control.' You can always trust the Greens to give me an opportunity to drag out my book on basic economics. Perhaps they should take some time to read it and actually understand some basic principles of supply and demand.