After plans to tip the CFMEU’s Victorian branch into administration came undone last week, moves are again afoot.
On Monday Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he was confident the Bill would pass for urgent legislation to put part of the CFMEU into administration this week, after the initial bid failed last week.
The Government has agreed to make 10 amendments to its Bill after a weekend of negotiations with the Opposition and a deal being reached on Monday.
The CFMEU has clapped back at the bipartisan agreement in a statement.
“This decision is a sad indictment on the Government and all sides of politics, which have succumbed to the anti-CFMEU rhetoric spouted by big business and amplified by conservative media outlet,” the statement said.
“The allegations put by the media are very concerning and have been taken seriously by the union, with an independent investigation already launched, a governance review commissioned and individuals either removed from the union or stood down pending the investigation.”
The Coalition is also pushing for a reinstatement of the Australian Building and Construction Commission, which was abolished in February 2023 as part of Labor’s Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Act.
The commission had fined the union a total of $16.1 million over six years.
An Ernst & Young report commissioned by Master Builders Australia in 2022 foreshadowed higher costs and lower productivity in construction if the ABCC were abolished.
It also predicted the scrapping of the construction watchdog would generate economic costs of $47.5 billion by 2030.
Master Builders Australia chief executive Denita Wawn said the group had “strongly opposed the abolition of the ABCC” and supported the Coalition’s move to reinstate the watchdog.
“An industry specific regulator makes sure that everyone on building and construction sites have to play by the rules, so that workers and small businesses are protected,” Wawn said.
“This is a step in the right direction because we need to see an industry specific regulator with real teeth to ensure permanent change.
“But these measures will not be successful without the first step of appointing of an external administrator to the CFMEU.”
Wawn congratulated the Federal Government and Coalition on its bipartisan approach to the legislation.
The crackdown on the CFMEU’s Victorian branch follows allegations that the union had potential links to criminal gangs off the back of an extensive media investigation.
