Anthony Albanese has caved to ‘worst of labour’ movement by axing ABCC, says ex-Boral boss

The ex-CEO of Boral, which lost millions after the CFMMEU froze it out of sites, says the PM has given in to the “worst of the labour movement” by axing the ABCC.

A businessman whose multibillion-dollar company was “black-banned” by the construction union says the Albanese government’s move to abolish the building industry regulator “is a tragic capitulation to the worst elements of the labour movement.”

Former Boral CEO Mike Kane told The Daily Telegraph that with no “cop on the beat”, costs will rise as unions set wages and force companies to pay into training “slush funds” that deliver nothing.

Mr Kane also said competition will be reduced as unions pick their preferred contractors and shut out others.

In 2014, Mr Kane told the trade union governance and corruption royal commission that Boral’s share of the Melbourne high-rise market fell from 31 per cent to nine per cent after it was “black-banned” by the CFMMEU.

A court later ordered what is now known as the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union to pay Boral more than $4 million in damages.

Former Boral boss Mike Kane. Picture: Renee Nowytarger

CFMMEU Construction national secretary Dave Noonan questioned the accuracy of Mr Kane’s evidence to the royal commission.

“Mr Kane gets to vote in America,” Mr Noonan told The Telegraph. “He’s a US citizen. Australian voters voted for the Labor Party. It’s clearly not Mr Kane’s party.”

The CFMMEU’s Dave Noonan. Picture: News Corp Australia

“He’s entitled to his views … (but) I don’t think Australian voters ought to be told by American executives how to run their democracy,” Mr Noonan said.

On Sunday, new federal Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke said the Australian Building and Construction Commission’s “powers will be pulled back to the bare legal minimum” and that it would aim to abolish the ABCC by year’s end.

Mr Burke said the ABCC “wastes taxpayers’ money on trivial nonsense like what stickers a worker might have on their helmet”, but employer groups have argued the commission plays an important role tackling bullying and intimidation by union officials on building sites.

Mr Burke said some of the ABCCs powers will go back to the Fair Work Ombudsman and to appropriate health and safety regulators.

Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke. Picture: Liam Kidston

But the Opposition’s workplace relations spokeswoman Michaelia Cash said “other agencies are just not equipped to undertake the type of work that the ABCC does.”

Senator Cash vowed to re-establish the ABCC if the Coalition won the next election.

Senator Cash said that even a report commissioned under the Rudd Labor government identified the need for a specialist regulator – albeit within the office of the Fair Work Ombudsman – that was able to wield ABCC-like powers such as forcing people to “attend for interrogation”.

That report contained a case study from Woodside Energy on how the ABCC helped cut the time lost to industrial action by 85 per cent.

Originally published as Anthony Albanese has caved to ‘worst of labour’ movement by axing ABCC, says ex-Boral boss