Page 139 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 10 February 2016
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donations to the movement. The flow-on effect from such a cash grab is felt across the city. It has inflated the costs of construction. It has threatened jobs and impacted on fairness and competition here in the construction industry within the ACT.
The union cut, plus the impact on productivity, is estimated to add around 20 to 30 per cent to the cost of building here in the ACT. That is an impact on every Canberran. The impact is not just on big building projects or developments, but on the smaller ones too. That is a direct cost to housing affordability and to every construction project that occurs in this city; 20 to 30 per cent is unnecessarily being paid by the ratepayer or by the first homebuyer.
One of the most pertinent recommendations made by the royal commission, of course, appears as referral No 12 in relation to the activities of the ACT branch of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, or the CFMEU. The Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption recommended that the secretary of the ACT branch of the CFMEU be referred to the Director-General, Chief Minister, Treasury and Economic Development Directorate in order that consideration may be given to whether he should be charged with and prosecuted for intimidating an inspector contrary to section 190 of the ACT Work Health and Safety Act 2011. This referral speaks for itself. Yet what we have heard from the leader of the ALP and the Chief Minister himself in response to this is silence. There has been absolutely nothing said by the leader of the Labor Party in the ACT, and the leader of the ACT government; complete and utter silence.
In respect of governance and leadership, perhaps we should turn to the policy platform of the Australian Labor Party. The union governance platform of the Australian Labor Party states:
… Labor has zero tolerance for criminality or corruption in the union movement and has consistently argued that any criminal conduct in the union movement must be investigated by police and prosecuted in the Court.
I repeat, “investigated by police and prosecuted in the court.” It continues:
Recent revelations of theft and the flagrant misuse of union members’ money by a small number of union officials requires a tough and effective response. We must ensure such conduct is detected and acted upon at the earliest opportunity.
That is a continuing statement from the ALP union governance platform. In stark contrast, there has been no such statement from the ACT branch of the Labor Party, no such distance from thuggery or intimidation that has emerged as evidence as a result of the royal commission. In fact, what we do see, instead of a constant flow of reminders, is that the ACT Labor-Greens government have strong ties with the ACT branch of the CFMEU and, in return, the potential for undue influence over the government is ever present.
We need to look no further than the ongoing police investigation into the conduct of the former ACT police minister’s office in relation to a conversation that had allegedly taken place between union officials and the minister’s own chief of staff around disclosing details about ministerial meetings that the minister had had with the territory’s Chief Police Officer.
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