Senator RYAN (Victoria) (3:30 PM) —I rise to speak in support of Senator Abetz’s motion to take note of an answer by Senator Arbib regarding the Australian Building and Construction Commission. The senators opposite might like to focus more on what Senator Abetz is doing, rather than just making accusations. When Senator Abetz sought and was granted leave to table the ministerial letter, I understand that subjected the letter and the ministerial direction to debate and disallowance by this chamber. So maybe you should listen just a little bit more carefully.
The case about this being a Labor broken promise is clear cut, but I suppose that in light of the events of the last 12 months we should be getting used to this sort of thing. It is the same as their promise about keeping budget surpluses, about keeping low government debt and about keeping low taxes. It will make people feel the same, I imagine, as many of our regional students felt when Labor did not flag any of the changes that are disenfranchising so many of them from study and plans they had made after they left high school. But this is a truly craven manoeuvre by the government, and that is because of its motivation. This is motivated by payback to mates and to bankers.
The truth is that the construction sector is not like any other sector of the economy. I come from Victoria, and the stories from Victoria are truly extraordinary and they have been that way for many years. When I was working at Safeway I did not have Mick Gatto or Tom Domican as an industrial relations consultant coming in to help out. This is a sector that has been rife with unlawfulness and rife with wildcat actions that have made the rest of the community pay.
Senator McEwen has referred to the rights of workers, but I note that in her speech just prior to my own there was very little discussion of the ABCC; there were merely accusations made about the previous government and about one of my colleagues, Senator Fisher. But the truth is that the first right of a worker is to have a job. There is absolutely no point in having pages and pages of legislation and claiming there are volumes of workers’ protections when there is no-one in a job. The truth is that the construction sector is a very different sector, particularly in my home state of Victoria and particularly in Western Australia. The ABCC addressed very real issues. For those who doubt it, I urge them to read the report of the royal commission, because it makes absolutely shocking reading. It outlines in its public volumes organised and systemic misbehaviour—to be just a little bit polite about it.
Labor has always opposed actions to restrain rogue union activity. It has never understood that policies like this are a way to protect the true national interest, to protect the four out of five workers who choose not to join a union and, at the same time, to make sure that those fewer than one in five workers who do join a union get a fair go and that the rest of the community does not have to pay for that through increased costs, through illegality and through wildcat actions. Some of those opposite actually talk about how scared a worker might be when they are being questioned about alleged activity. I urge them to go back through the many media reports—some of which I will not mention because they are the subject of proceedings—where workers and officials have been threatened with physical intimidation and violence. The threat of physical violence goes way beyond anything that should happen in a workplace and it goes way beyond the idea that you can be compelled to answer a question, because sometimes those questions are actually about physical intimidation. That is how we protect people in our society.
We know who the Labor Party represent in this place. As I mentioned earlier, 80 per cent of Australian workers are not in trade unions, but the ALP is the political wing of the labour movement in this country. It is not something it chooses to hide. What it is doing with this particular ministerial direction, with this broken promise and with the change in their legislation is letting loose the most rogue elements in the Australian trade union movement. This is not the shoppies—
Senator Cameron —You would not know. You would not know anything about the construction industry, mate.
Senator RYAN —Senator Cameron, this is not the shoppies. For those who have any questions, I urge them to go and visit the West Gate Bridge in Melbourne, where union disruption has been preventing necessary safety work being undertaken and people’s lives have been put at risk because of it.
The truth about this is that Labor never wanted to do this. I note that in May 2007 their national conference promised to going to rid of the ABCC and then Dean Mighell made certain comments and put the now Prime Minister under a bit of political pressure—and, to use the example Senator Abetz gave, he was Kevin from Queensland, the economic conservative, and all of a sudden Labor were going to become the tough cop on the beat. That same month they announced this policy, which today they have gone back on. They have gone back on this policy which said that the arrangements, resources and funding for the ABCC would stay in place. They stand condemned for it, and the workers and the community of Australia will pay for it.
Question agreed to.