A masterstroke from Malcolm Turnbull

Masterstroke from Malcolm

Malcolm Turnbull is playing the political game brilliantly.

It was clear last week that he was on the way to achieving a Senate masterstroke. Today’s announcement underlines exactly how he will do it.

If there is an election, Australians will have the opportunity to reduce their infrastructure costs by between 25-30 per cent. But for what it’s worth I think there is a better than 60 per cent chance that there won’t be a double dissolution. The crossbenchers won’t be stupid enough to force one.

You’ll remember that when the Australian Building and Construction Commission bill was first introduced to the Senate it lost by one vote because a crossbench senator didn’t turn up, apparently due to some deal with Clive Palmer and the building unions. Clive Palmer no longer has any influence.

While it’s true that the crossbenchers are very angry, Turnbull is giving them a very clear choice: If they vote against the legislation they will be out of parliament within six months and will never return again. The only exceptions are Nick Xenophon in South Australia and Jacqui Lambie in Tasmania.

If they vote for the legislation, which is consistent with what they did previously, they will have another three to four years in parliament.

Faced with that very clear choice most people will choose the longer term in parliament and probably not a double dissolution. But I emphasise I do not know the minds of the crossbenchers and the anger created by the election legislation might cause them to make a silly decision.

Leaving aside the electoral considerations, this is legislation that Australia badly needs. What has been happening in our building industry for decades is a national disgrace. We have a series of large builders with very weak management which do deals with the unions involving bad work practices.

Those bad work practices are being imposed on all the subcontractors, and the unions decide who can and can’t be a subcontractor. One way or another, large sums of money end up in union pockets. And in the process the building costs are between 25-30 per cent more than they should be. These changes are not about wage reductions but work practices. No nation can afford that sort of activity in such a key industry.

What Turnbull should have done is to add to the ABCC bill legislation that stops employer corruption. That would have really sealed the fate of bad practices. But we’re left with just the ABCC.

But remember a certain part of the way the ABCC works is that it enforces a written code of conduct and infrastructure projects that involve Commonwealth money. There can be no Canberra money unless the code is adhered to. In that way, rogue builders simply don’t get the jobs — and that includes subcontractors who broke rules by adhering to union instructions.

If the crossbenchers support the government they will be doing the country a national service. They can vent their anger with other legislation that is not so important to the nation.

And remember, the ALP and Greens are hopelessly compromised because both parties receive huge donations from the unions.

Footnote: After my commentary last week on Turnbull’s masterstroke I did enjoy the good-natured criticism on social media from my journalistic colleagues.