Master Builders Australia News

ABCC Replacement Bill Poor Policy

Written by: Richard Calver, 03 Nov 2011

Master Builders Australia today declared the Government’s moves in introducing the Bill to abolish the Australian Building and Construction Commission and repeal industry specific workplace laws as not in the best interest of the economy and the community.
Wilhelm Harnisch, CEO of Master Builders said “The community must not pay the price for persistent unlawful behaviour in the commercial building industry. 

“The Building and Construction Industry Improvement Amendment (Transition to Fair Work) Bill 2011 introduced into Parliament today would give a green light to building unions to take even more unlawful industrial action.  It will herald in increase in industrial disputation and a decline in productivity.

“The Bill reflects poor policy.  It is a mirror of the 2009 Bill that was roundly criticized as creating unnecessary procedural constraints on the exercise of the inspectorate’s powers and by repealing the industry specific laws that enable the agency to move effectively against coercion and thuggery. 

“Even with a tough watchdog, industrial disputes in the industry are rising and the use of coercion is increasing.  The number of days lost in the construction has surged over the past year to 72,500 and is more than six times than that recorded in 2007-08 according the latest ABS data.

“The community and governments have the right to expect that coercion and stand over tactics are unacceptable in Australia’s contemporary economic and industrial landscape.

“The recent release of the ABCC’s Annual Report showed that courts during the last financial year imposed more than $2.5 million in penalties with the unacceptable practice of coercion accounting for just on two thirds of the amount imposed during the year.

"The Government in proceeding with the Bill is ignoring such damaging court findings.

“Watering down the current powers of the ABCC and repealing the industry-specific laws sends the wrong message when there is still more work to be done in the industry to impose the rule of law and to change the culture, a matter recognised by Justice Wilcox whose report underpins the Bill’s terms.

“This Bill, if passed, will damage the industry’s industrial relations, negatively affect productivity. In short it will send all the wrong messages and deliver the wrong outcomes.”