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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-11-30 Daily Xml
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Bills

Construction Industry Commissioner Bill

Introduction and First Reading

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Leader of the Opposition) (10:32): Obtained leave and introduced a bill for an act to establish the Office of the Construction Industry Commissioner, to provide for the powers and functions of the commissioner and for other purposes. Read a first time.

Second Reading

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Leader of the Opposition) (10:33): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I am pleased to introduce the Construction Industry Commissioner Bill 2022. This bill provides essential and urgent protection for South Australia's construction industry, which has come under concerted and coordinated attack from militant unions supported by this Labor government. That this bill is required at all is a sad indictment on the failure of our Premier to stand up and protect our construction industry and South Australian jobs.

At a time when they most need our support, the Premier is instead cosying up to John Setka's militant CFMEU. He has welcomed John Setka's CFMEU to South Australia with open arms, putting South Australian jobs and families at risk in the process. That is why the opposition has been forced to step in and to stand up to the CFMEU's bad behaviour, aiming to protect our construction industry by introducing a bill to establish a South Australian construction industry watchdog.

This bill provides for a construction industry commissioner who will promote the rights of building and construction industry participants, respect for the rule of law and work health and safety. The commissioner will facilitate and encourage the fair treatment of building and construction industry participants in their commercial dealings with each other or in relation to any other matters generally relating to their workplaces.

The commissioner will be a one-stop shop for our building and construction industry to register any concerns relating to safety, industrial action, allegations of coercion, and threatening behaviour. The commissioner will also facilitate the resolution of complaints through measures such as mediation and making representations on behalf of notifiers and complainants in accordance with relevant legislation, such as the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 2009 and the Work Health and Safety Act 2012.

In terms of ministerial accountability, the bill provides that the commissioner will monitor and advise the minister about practices that may adversely affect building and construction industry participants within the industry. The commissioner must put forward to the minister a report on the commissioner's operations each year, setting out any complaints made and any practices or conditions that adversely affect builders and contractors within the industry.

The commissioner has the power to compel individuals to provide information that the commissioner requires to undertake the commissioner's functions under the act, and the maximum penalty for failing to comply is $20,000. The commissioner has the power to suspend work health and safety entry permits if the commissioner is satisfied that a work health and safety entry permit has contravened the Work Health and Safety Act 2012.

The commissioner also has the power to direct matters to appropriate investigative agencies, including SAPOL, the Commissioner for Consumer Affairs, the Commonwealth Ombudsman and the Fair Work Ombudsman. To protect individuals when giving a notification or making a complaint to the commissioner, the bill provides penalties of $10,000 for individuals and $50,000 for a body corporate should threats, coercion or intimidation occur in the course of the performance of functions under the act.

Industrial relations powers have for some time been a commonwealth responsibility, with relevant acts including the Independent Contractors Act 2006, the Fair Work Act 2009 and the building and construction act 2016. Up until earlier this year, the Australian Building and Construction Commission, established by the former federal Liberal government, has covered issues and matters such as wages and entitlements, unprotected industrial action, freedom of association, coercion, discrimination, sham arrangements, unlawful pickets and right of entry, yet the federal Labor Party has shamefully gutted the Australian Building and Construction Commission, leaving South Australian businesses unprotected from union thugs.

In South Australia, we have seen this play out firsthand. It started with the election of the Malinauskas Labor government in March, with $125,000 worth of support from the CFMEU. In return for this payment, the Premier has rolled out the red carpet for John Setka to take over the South Australian branch of the CFMEU. Since that moment, we have slowly but surely seen the CFMEU infiltrate our local construction industry, putting jobs at risk.

It started with intimidatory behaviour towards the Master Builders Association, including the alleged damage of cars, and has progressed to threatening local businesses if they do not sign up to union deals. Many impacted businesses have been too afraid to speak up, but last week I was proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with John Nicholls from the family-run Crane Services at Wingfield. They are being held to ransom by John Setka and his cronies, who have rejected a 16 per cent pay rise offer and are now undertaking rolling strikes. This is crippling the business, and Mr Nicholls may be forced to restructure, which will cost people their jobs and livelihoods.

The Premier has repeatedly said that if he was made aware of bullying and intimidation he would stand up to it. Unfortunately for South Australian businesses, there has been silence and inaction. In fact, the CFMEU is so emboldened by the Premier's failure to stand up to them that they have undertaken an advertising blitz, including on the government's own tram network.

The Premier should be ashamed of himself for standing by as these militant union tactics are used against local South Australian businesses. Where the Premier has failed to fill the void left by the abolition of the federal building and construction industry watchdog, the opposition is today standing up for local construction businesses and workers right across our state.

The CFMEU must not be allowed to run roughshod over our local construction industry. The Premier must call out this behaviour instead of condoning it. The opposition has done the work for the government; now the government needs to support this bill and stand up to union thugs once and for all. I commend the bill to the house.

Debate adjourned on motion of Mr Odenwalder.

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