Page 1131 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 6 April 2016
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The Territory Directorate responsible for procurement will provide an annual report to UnionsACT on the progress made in implementing this agreement and on instances of compliance activities undertaken by the Territory and of proven non-compliance by tenderers.
This is in addition to any ordinary reporting of non-compliance that may occur …
So, workers’ names, addresses and work hours are provided to the unions, as well as the names of tenderers and access to work documents. If they do not get that, if they do not agree, they do not get accepted. In fact, the government must decline to work with that tenderer. The breaches of privacy, democratic governance, common decency and ethical government in this MOU are staggering.
It is no wonder that we have seen such an outcry. It has created shock and outrage not just around the ACT but around the country, and the criticism has been consistent. The federal workplace minister, Michaelia Cash, stated on 16 March:
The ACT Government has effectively outsourced core business to UnionsACT.
Mr Corbell: A strong source, Jeremy.
MR HANSON: I will give you another source then: the ACT Master Builders Association.
Mr Corbell: Oh, right, yes.
MR HANSON: I note for the Hansard that Mr Corbell is interjecting in order to deride the MBA. I will note what they have said:
… deeply concerned about the integrity of the ACT Government’s tendering processes following revelations of an MoU …
“The integrity,” Madam Speaker. The Canberra Business Chamber raised concerns about costs. The Property Council raised concerns that “commercial-in-confidence tender details can be undermined”. The MBA stated that the MOU established “a three-way process that also involves a union tip off and pay off”. The MBA puts real issues at play here very clearly when they state this about certain unions:
Their huge wealth and power has been built on forcing Canberra’s construction industry into the woefully anti-competitive pattern agreements that delivered $1.2 million in direct profits to the CFMEU ACT …
That is at the core of this issue—a mutually beneficial document to serve the vested personal interests of two parties. For the unions, it grants the power to control the industry, which generates money which can be funnelled into campaigns or direct donations which directly benefit the Labor Party so that it can stay in power. If the MOU is re-signed the unions continue to control industry and generate more money. It is absolutely outrageous. The MOU gives the CFMEU the backing to conduct this sort of activity in the construction industry.
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