Queensland election 2017: Opposition accuses Labor of ‘serving union masters’

THE Palaszczuk Government will rely on union help to deliver it a second term of Parliament, after passing a raft of laws to appease groups whose powerful campaigning was credited with its 2015 shock win.

THE Palaszczuk Government will rely on union help to deliver it a second term of Parliament after passing a raft of laws to appease groups whose powerful campaigning was credited with its 2015 shock win.

The Government used its final two sitting weeks to bookend its term with union-friendly laws after beginning it by reversing LNP legislation that had diluted their power.

Last month, it passed new industrial manslaughter laws, despite overwhelming opposition from every major stakeholder except for the unions.

And it succeeded in passing another controversial piece to introduce new payment rules for subcontractors by establishing project bank accounts, which provoked Master Builders into erecting negative billboards in Housing Minister Mick de Brenni’s marginal Springwood electorate.

The Government began its legislative agenda in early 2015 with reforms that reversed LNP laws requiring unions to give 24 hours’ notice to access a workplace if a safety breach was suspected, introduced restrictions on which government functions could be outsourced and reinstated “employment security” provisions for public servants.

Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls said there was a pattern that suggested Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk was “serving her union masters”.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk with former CFMEU representative David Hanna

Instead of easing cost of living pressures or creating jobs, Ms Palaszczuk had used her final weeks to “push through legislation designed to shore up support of the CFMEU in the upcoming state election”.

Mr Nicholls said the Government had done a raft of favours for the union movement during the past two-and-a-half years that included reintroducing the union encouragement policy within the public service, regulating the labour hire industry and moving the Labour Day public holiday back to May.

Other pro-union legislation included changing rules so only licensed plumbers could install water meters, creating a new business within Energy Queensland to compete with the private sector for solar installation and repealing Newman government laws requiring union credit card expenditure to be revealed publicly, he said.

“Annastacia Palaszczuk’s has her priorities all wrong, Queenslanders deserve a government for all Queenslanders not just for big unions,” Mr Nicholls said.

A spokesman for the Premier said the Government had honoured its election commitments to stand up for workers.

“Unlike the LNP Newman-Nicholls Government, that sacked Queenslanders, reduced protections and rushed legislation through Parliament, the Palaszczuk Government has restored the frontline, strengthened protections and ensured legislation was discussed with stakeholders and subjected to the full scrutiny of Parliamentary Committees,” he said.

He also defended the industrial manslaughter laws following the death of two workers at Eagle Farm.

“Every Queensland family has the right to believe that when they send a loved one off to work, they will come back alive,” he said.

Originally published as Queensland election 2017: Opposition accuses Labor of ‘serving union masters’