Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union

I think some of those comments from the member for Fenner are, quite frankly, laughable. Let’s look at who it was that said, ‘It’s time for the corruption and criminality to come to an end.’ The admission is from the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, when he leaned into his apparent watershed moment and realised what the activities of the CFMEU were and that the government could no longer avoid the truth about the situation. It’s like it was an epiphany—a light bulb moment. The light actually went on. It’s like the government had no prior knowledge of the activities of the CFMEU. See nothing, hear nothing, say nothing, as if the ALP had just heard about the corruption and criminality that’s been allowed to run roughshod through the construction industry for at least two years under this government and, most likely, for two decades. It’s indefensible.

So what do those opposite do? They act surprised. That’s what they do. In fact, it was a moment in time when the Prime Minister, his ministers and the ALP—all of those opposite—were forced to admit what they knew all along, but they did it with faux outrage. The outrage is that the Albanese government has been making life too easy for the CFMEU, their mates, since one of the very first acts of this Labor government was to abolish the ABCC—the cop on the beat—on those worksites, and they have been out of control ever since. The ABCC successfully brought 91 per cent of cases for 1,661 contraventions of IR law against the CFMEU into the courts. The courts found the CFMEU were in breach of industrial law on no less than 80 occasions.

I’ve been getting text messages from members in my electorate that are thanking the coalition for fighting back with amendments—from the shadow minister the Hon. Senator Cash—against Labor’s bill. This is one of text messages that I got:

In a free economy, enterprise needs to respect the rights of the workers and at the same time the organisations have to be able to increase productivity and create more efficient production for the betterment of the public.

We agree with that. They say:

We are suffering in Australia with housing affordability and yet the main reason is the cost that we have to pay because

of a corrupt system that no one wants to accept.

The cost of our production—

that is, for a builder—

can be reduced by 30% if we don’t have unions. Another developer says:

The Government keeps talking about Housing affordability and the lack of supply on one hand but on the other continues to allow the CFMEU to operate in thuggery that is completely driving up house costings. It costs more than 30% extra to construct housing because of them. The CFMEU needs to be stripped of all its powers and deregistered.

It’s pretty clear that the CFMEU has been pushing up the cost of housing for Australians through its demands, its thuggery, its bullying and its intimidatory tactics.

It’s not just true of housing and the cost of housing and how this is pushing up that cost for Australians; it also has flow-on effects for taxpayer funded construction. One example is stage 3 of the Gold Coast Light Rail from Boradbeach to Burleigh in my electorate. It’s 6.7 kilometres of light rail that will transform the central Gold Coast for tourists and Gold Coasters alike. Originally it was costed at $709 million. The most recent cost has blown out to $1.2 billion. Now, the public has every right to ask why. Firstly, you could say that it’s the Miles state government’s and the former Palaszczuk state government’s inability to manage their budget, and you would be right on the money there. So I urge Queenslanders to show them the door in ’24. But you would also be right to say it’s because of the demands of the unions to be paid more per hour to work at night and on the weekends, with time and a half and loadings, to stop work when it sprinkles with rain and, of course, for higher hourly rates, including for stop-go sign holders.

These are examples of why housing construction in our country is out of control. This is why young families cannot buy their first homes. They can’t keep up with the price of housing, which is increasing because of the actions of the CFMEU, enabled by the Australian Labor Party. Those opposite cannot defend the indefensible.