The Senate’s decision to re-establish the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) has been welcomed by Wilhelm Harnsich, CEO of Master Builders Australia who said it is a win for the community, taxpayers and people who work in the building and construction industry.
“The community as the tax payer is the real winner because it means that schools, hospitals and roads will now cost considerably less to construct,” he said.
However, unions have slammed the resurrection of the ABCC, describing it as a fundamental attack on working people which will leave a million Australians with fewer legal rights.
The Electrical Trades Union national secretary Allen Hicks said the ABCC legislation removed the legal right to silence for construction workers, would obstruct the ability of workers to seek help from their union with safety issues, prevented limits being placed on the casualisation of jobs, and would reduce the number of apprentices.
Mr Hicks said the ABCC bill, and associated building code, meant unions and employers could no longer reach agreement on important issues such as setting minimum apprentice number for projects.
“Australia already has issues with growing youth unemployment, and declining apprentice numbers, yet the Federal Government’s response has been to remove the ability of unions and businesses to work together to address the critical issue,” he said.
On the other hand, Mr Harnisch said the restoration of the ABCC should assist in normalising workplace behaviours on Australia’s construction sites.
“Construction workers, small subcontractors and everyone else in the supply chain can have the confidence of going to work every day without fear of being intimidated and bullied,” Mr Harnisch said.
“The passing of the ABCC bills marks the start of a new chapter for the industry and an end to the days where the community is paying more than it needs to for schools, hospitals and roads simply because building unions think they are above the law,” he said.
“The various amendments to the ABCC Bills will take some time for the industry to absorb and Master Builders will work with the Government and other parties to arrive at a set of practical arrangements for their implementation,” Wilhelm Harnisch said.
“There is nothing to fear from the restoration of the ABCC. The ABCC is simply asking for all parties on construction sites to behave lawfully and to treat everyone with respect whether they be union, contractor, subcontractor or supplier, male or female,” Wilhelm Harnisch said.