Labor withdrew militant union busters, says Master Builders

QUEENSLAND builders have weighed in on the Labor Government’s failure to keep militant unions in check.

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QUEENSLAND builders have accused the State Government of failing to fully enforce rules to prevent militant unions causing costly blowouts and delays on major taxpayer-funded projects.

Master Builders yesterday insisted inspectors from the Office of Industrial Relations had withdrawn from policing the rules since Labor won office in 2015.

The Courier-Mail yesterday revealed the rules impacting state-funded projects worth more than $2 million had been secretly scrapped by Industrial Relations Minister Grace Grace.

The enforcement arm of the rules, the Building and Construction Compliance Branch, will be absorbed into the Office of Industrial Relations.

The move comes despite figures showing Queensland is the nation’s industrial dispute capital, with more than 90 per cent of lost working days occurring in the construction sector.

The “implementation guidelines” for state-funded projects were aimed at preventing builders being strongarmed by unions into signing up to agreements that would drive up costs and cause excessive work stoppages.

The Government said the guidelines were obsolete after the reintroduction of the Australian Building and Construction Commission.

CFMEU, ETU and Plumbers Union members in a recent protest in Brisbane City.

Master Builders construction policy director Corlia Roos said yesterday Office of Industrial Relations inspectors began withdrawing from building sites in 2015.

“The reality is the Government hasn’t been fully enforcing those guidelines for a long time,” she said.

Ms Roos said while there were some overlapping responsibilities with the ABCC, some state-funded projects would not fall under the federal sphere.

“I think we have just lost another potential instrument to enforce the rule of law,” she said.

However Ms Grace said yesterday the rules, introduce by the Newman government, had been ineffective from the start.

“As a result of a successful 2012 Federal Court challenge, the guidelines in Victoria were deemed not to be applicable,” Ms Grace said.

“So the Newman government deemed all agreements approved by the Fair Work Commission to be compliant with their guidelines.

“Effectively this meant the guidelines have been largely irrelevant and unenforceable all along.”