Employment minister Michaelia Cash: It’s time to return the ABCC

ENOUGH is enough - it is time for the Senate to finally pass the Government’s legislation to re-establish the Australian Building and Construction Commission.

Minister: Return of ABCC is overdue

ENOUGH is enough. It is time the Senate passed the government’s legislation to re-establish the Australian Building and Construction Commission.

Something is wrong in ­Australia’s building and construction industry. As far back as 2003 the Cole royal commission found “the industry is marred by unlawful and inappropriate conduct. Fear, ­intimidation and coercion are commonplace”.

Not surprisingly, it also noted: “At the centre of this culture and much of the unlawful and inappropriate conduct is the CFMEU.”

Since that time Australia’s largest building union, the CFMEU, has been fined more than $8 million for breaches of various laws.

Australia’s building and construction industry employs more than a million people and generated over $300 billion in income in 2014-15. The ABCC will help improve productivity, increase investment and restore con-fidence in the industry. We know this because when the ABCC existed under the Howard government the industry’s economic and industrial performance significantly improved.

The abolition of the ABCC is up there with the dismantling of the Howard government’s border protection policies as one of the most costly follies of Labor government.

Those who would vote against the ABCC Bills need to explain why they are voting against the most effective model of cleaning up the industry. It’s time for the Senate to put the national interest ahead of the corrupted interests of Labor and the CFMEU.

Senator MICHAELIA CASH IS fEDERAL EMPLOYMENT MINISTER