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Building industry watchdog set to keep teeth

News Clippings Ewin Hannan, The Australian, February 04 2010

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LABOR’S attempts to wind back the powers of the building industry watchdog appear unlikely to succeed before the federal election, with the Coalition and Family First’s Steve Fielding yesterday reaffirming their opposition.

Labor had wanted to replace the Australian Building and Construction Commission with a special inspectorate with watered-down powers on February 1. However, the government has been frustrated by the Senate.

The office of Workplace Relations Minister Julia Gillard yesterday reaffirmed she would continue negotiating with Senator Fielding and Independent senator Nick Xenophon to try to push the legislation through the Senate this year. The bill is on the parliamentary notice paper but it is unclear whether it will be brought on for debate this week.

The ABCC, created in 2005 by the Howard government, is loathed by unions, particularly for its coercive powers.

Opposition workplace relations spokesman Eric Abetz said Labor’s bill attempted to emasculate the powers of the ABCC.

“Our position is very strong that the Cole royal commission exposed a culture of illegality, crime and thuggery,” he said. “It seems to me that ABCC has done a fantastic job in bringing some law-abiding behaviour back into the construction sector.”

Senator Fielding said the building industry required a tough regulator to combat militant union conduct, particularly in Victoria and Western Australia.

“Given the amount of infrastructure spending that is going on and will continue to go on over the next five years, I think it’s important that we have productivity that the government has just outlined needs to happen. We need a strong cop on the beat, not a toothless tiger,” he said.

Employers want the Coalition to reject Labor’s proposal to allow the watchdog’s coercive powers to be “switched off”. Business is also unhappy with the proposed safeguards that will apply to the use of coercive powers.

The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union did not endorse the bill because it maintained “unacceptable features” of the current legislation.

Dave Noonan, national secretary of the union’s construction division, said Senator Fielding was more interested in supporting property developers than the families of construction workers left with fewer rights than other citizens.