Big construction deserved to be shutdown but a blanket ban is an overcorrection

Big construction has spread Covid and shown they are tone-deaf to the rules. But a blanket ban punishes ordinary homeowners.

Overnight, Builder Dan morphed into Wreck-It Dan.

Fair enough that big construction pauses over Covid concerns.

Big construction has spread disease by seeding outbreaks. Compliance with the rules has been – as described by Treasurer Tim Pallas – “appalling”.

Heedless of the optics, CFMEU workers resisted a ban on tearoom breaks, apparently oblivious to the wider malaise of unemployed people and broken businesses.

They have worked for the past 20 months while hundreds of thousands of Victorians have been unable to.

Missing out on work privileges, for the greater good, apparently does not compute.

Many construction workers have fought against mandatory jabs, apparently displeased at how the directive came to pass, as if unaware that hundreds of daily case numbers had been linked to the industry.

They didn’t want to be compelled to do what most people desperately seek to do. There’s a Monty Python logic to all this.

Workers who stopped traffic in Melbourne on Friday over the closure of tearooms. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

We’re not going to do it, even though we will have to if we want to go to a bar or the footy in the next six months, because you’ve told us we have to.

Let’s shoot ourselves in the foot, the argument goes, because we don’t want to be ordered to get a shot in the arm.

They have got what they wanted – more than 300,000 workers sitting at home, for a fortnight or longer.

The posturing, from long-time allies (and beneficiaries) of the Andrews government, has been a poor look for Andrews.

He has lost control of a rabble. Once again, instead of applying the scalpel according to the health advice, he reached for the mallet.

All construction has closed for two weeks, to reduce movement and cut transmission.

On Sunday, in presenting a roadmap, construction sector concerns did not figure. By Monday night, the industry was shut down, partly because protesters showed a complete disregard for the wider plight.

CFMEU boss John Setka tries to quell the angry crowd outside his office. Picture: David Crosling

Ordinary people, doing renos within the law, will be punished.

Domestic builders have halted work. Those families who have moved out while work is done, to comply with the health advice, are stranded out of home.

Compliance in the domestic building sector has been high, says the Housing Industry Association.

“The closure presents enormous difficulties for at least 30,000 small scale residential building projects currently under construction, each of which will now need to be made safe and secure during the shutdown period,” says HIA Victoria executive director Fiona Nield.

In one case, a family packed up and moved out of home over the weekend.

They upped their lives so that major work could begin at the back of the house. Now they have committed to temporary accommodation, to allow for work which cannot happen.

Out of pocket $3000-$4000, they face likely delays which will – given bank-ups of work and the Christmas break – throw their methodical plans and way of life out of order until 2022.

They will suffer because a thoughtless minority of construction workers reflected badly on the Andrews government.

And because Andrews has overcorrected with a blanket industry ban which – like curfews and playground bans – serves to hurt more than it will help.

Originally published as Big construction deserved to be shutdown but a blanket ban is an overcorrection