Senate delay for union-busting bill

The government's bid to pass its union-busting Ensuring Integrity Bill faces delays.

Industrial Relations Minister Christian Porter. Picture: AAP

The government's bid to pass its union-busting Ensuring Integrity Bill faces delay after key Senate crossbenchers expressed reservations about the proposed demerit points system for law-breaking union officials.

With the government needing the support of One Nation or Jacqui Lambie to get the bill passed, both refused to commit to the proposed laws on Tuesday.

Minister for Industrial Relations Christian Porter had hoped the government would progress discussions with the Senate crossbench and bring on a vote on Wednesday.

But it appears likely the government will have to wait for the final two weeks of Senate sittings this year before knowing whether One Nation or Senator Lambie will join Centre Alliance in supporting laws to make it easier to ban union officials and de­register unions.

Senator Hanson won’t support the bill in its current form. ‘‘I will not go out union bashing if you are going to allow corporate Australia to not do the right thing by their workers. It’s got to be fair and just,’’ she said. She wants a vote on the bill delayed until after this week of sittings.

Senator Lambie has declined to commit to backing the bill and refused requests for comment on Tuesday. She has previously said she would back the bill if CFMEU Victorian leader John Setka did not resign.

Mr Porter said on Tuesday that discussions with crossbench senators were continuing and he was confident a ‘‘sensible compromise can be achieved’’.

‘‘The drafting of amendments to reach a working compromise is advanced and I look forward to the bill being debated in the Senate as soon as discussions with the crossbench have been finalised,’’ he said.

Mr Porter said the bill was ­“vitally important to Australia’’.

‘‘The repeated law-breaking of the minority of rogue unions, most notably the CFMEU, disrupts worksites and adds millions of taxpayer dollars to the cost of key infrastructure,’’ he said. ‘‘Despite Labor and the ACTU’s hysterical claims about this bill, it does not stop anyone from joining a union, nor does (it) have any impact on a ­union’s ability to exercise its rights.’’