Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wish to take note of the Australian Building and Construction Commission quarterly reports for the period 1 October to 31 December 2017. These reports are worthless. They are about as worthwhile as the ABCC itself, which is another part of that set of organisations pooled together by Senator Michaelia Cash when she was masquerading as the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. These organisations, such as the ABCC, are nothing but anti-union organisations designed to attack working people in this country. We see it again and again where they don't deal with the issues that they are supposed to deal with under the legislation and where they don't address the issues that this Senate actually directed them to deal with when the ABCC legislation was passed.

It is nothing but a fraud. We've seen a demonstration of how much of a fraud this is. When Senator Leyonhjelm agreed to pass this shonky ABCC legislation attacking working people on the basis of a commitment from that weak Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, what did Malcolm Turnbull do? He did exactly what I thought he would do, and that is do the dirty on Senator Leyonhjelm. Senator Leyonhjelm should never have agreed to pass this legislation, because the Prime Minister has reneged on the deal that he committed to give.

More importantly, we've got the ABCC, we've got the Registered Organisations Commission, we've got the Fair Work Ombudsman and now we've got the ACCC all lining up to attack the trade union movement. Without the trade union movement in this country, there is no chance of wage stagnation being dealt with. Without decent industrial legislation in this country, wages will continue to stagnate. It is not just chance that wages are stagnating. Under this government, the attacks on working people, the attacks on the trade union movement, have left workers with wage stagnation.

Every time a union official tries to look after a worker through bargaining, through getting decent rates of pay and conditions, we've either got the ROC, the Registered Organisations Commission—the shonkiest of them all, who were set up to simply attack working people—or we've got the ABCC, whose former leader breached the legislation that he was supposed to set up and oversee. These are supported by disgraced Minister Michaelia Cash. She's an absolutely disgraced minister who can't show her face outside Parliament House, who has just lost her mojo completely because the Federal Police are on her tail.

And this minister, supported by this rabble of a government, has simply used federal government money—hundreds of thousands of dollars that should be spent on decent things for the decent people of this country—to cover up Minister Cash's transgressions, Minister Cash's misleading of the Senate. Minister Cash is a disgraced minister and she should go. She can't be honest with this Senate. We saw it again today where she refused to answer simple questions. This is a minister in hiding, a minister under protection, a minister using public funds to protect her own backside. This government is a disgrace. It's a rabble. It will continue to attack working people, and working people will see their wages continue to stagnate under this government.

There were a number of amendments made when this legislation was put forward. Those amendments were designed to make this ABCC more transparent, but they have not changed. They are not doing the job that they're supposed to do. They are not effectively dealing with the issues affecting working people. They are simply a tool of Minister Cash and this government to attack working people. It's an absolute disgrace. The quicker Minister Cash resigns, the quicker this government goes to an election, the better it will be for this country. I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.

I wish to take note of the Australian Building and Construction Commission quarterly report for the period 1 January to 31 March 2018. This is basically a continuation—I think there are three reports from the ABCC, an absolutely disgraceful organisation. It's a union-busting organisation funded by the Abbott and Turnbull governments to actually hammer ordinary working Australians' wages and conditions in this country. Now, they are supposed to report on matters like occupational health and safety, labour market testing, security of payments, sham contracting and disputed payments. That was the deal that the crossbench quite naively made to give them cover to support an anti-union organisation. It hasn't even complied with the minimal requirements that those amendments were set up to do.

We had a building industry ministerial meeting recently that looked at issues such as workers in the industry, companies in the industry and small businesses in the industry not being paid on time because of the rampant illegality and nonpayment of contracts in that industry. What does the ABCC do? Nothing. All the ABCC is interested in is attacking the trade union movement, trying to stop working people from getting access to advice from their union officials, and hammering union officials who want to get a right of entry and access to their members. This is a disgraceful organisation. And, even with Nigel Hadgkiss having to resign in disgrace, it hasn't been any better.

These reports need to be changed. There needs to be some real detail in these reports. They are not providing anything meaningful, but you can analyse the work of this union-busting publicly funded organisation. There are no details of the nature of the contraventions that might be exposed in building code audits. We don't know what is being found or even if the ABCC is actually looking in a proper manner. There is no transparency in the reporting. Senator Hinch and former Senator Xenophon sold out construction workers, because this is not working properly. It's not working effectively.

We continually get reports at estimates about young Australian workers, apprentices, on building and construction sites being ripped off unmercifully, having their wages stolen by employers, yet this organisation, supported by Senator Leyonhjelm, does nothing about it. There's not a mention of the rip-offs of young apprentices. No wonder kids won't take up an apprenticeship. They don't get looked after by the organisations that are tasked by this parliament to look after their rights and conditions. It's an absolute disgrace.

Senator Michaelia Cash was the architect of this. She placed her people, former Liberal staffers, in these organisations to control and manipulate the outcomes in these organisations. We now have a minister who has completely lost her mojo. We've got a minister who is afraid to put her face out into the public arena because she is under investigation, her office is under investigation, by the Australian Federal Police.

If Prime Minister Turnbull does not have the backbone to deal with this sort of ministerial misconduct then how can he remain the Prime Minister of this country? Well, we know at least 10 of his opposition want to get rid of him. We know that at least 10 of his opposition are going to cross the floor on the National Energy Guarantee. We know at that least 10—and that's all we know publicly—are prepared to pull him down, as he was pulled down when he was the Leader of the Opposition in past terms. We need a change of government. We need a decent Prime Minister in this country. We need decent rights for workers. We need decent rights for the union movement. We need to get rid of this government. That's the only way wage stagnation will be fixed. (Time expired)

Sue Lines (WA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Cameron, are you seeking leave?

Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.