Construction watchdog’s powers wound back to ‘bare legal minimum’

The federal construction watchdog’s powers will be stripped back to the “bare legal minimum” within days, in a federal government move to dump what it describes as “ridiculous” rules.

Labor went to the last election vowing to abolish the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) altogether, arguing it had been wasteful in pursuing cases against unions.

Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke said the government still intended to introduce legislation to dump the oversight body this year, with the move to wind back its powers a “down payment” on that commitment.

“As of Tuesday, the ABCC in its powers will be pulled back to the bare legal minimum,” he told ABC’s Insiders.

“Some of the things that the ABCC’s been doing, which I just think have been ridiculous rules, are gone all together.

“We will no longer be spending taxpayers’ money determining what sticker someone’s allowed to put on their helmet, whether or not a safety sign has to be pulled down because it’s got a union logo in the bottom corner, or what flag might be flying at a building site.

Unions have long argued the ABCC is biased in its pursuit against them and are currently defending dozens of prosecutions against them launched by the ABCC.

In March, the Federal Court ruled companies subject to the Commonwealth building code cannot allow the flag or any union logos to be displayed on worksites or applied to any clothing, property or equipment supplied to workers.

The decision was made after the ABCC took compliance action against contractor Lendlease over the display of a Eureka flag attached to a worksite in 2019.

In a statement issued on Sunday, Mr Burke said the ABCC’s record proved it had been “more concerned with pursuing and punishing workers than tackling rampant wage theft and compromised safety standards.”

Unions were quick to celebrate the move, with the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) Secretary Sally McManus saying the ABCC’s building code was onerous and nonsensical.

“Instead of acting to address important issues like increasing the number of permanent jobs by stopping excessive casualisation or fixing our broken bargaining laws so workers could get pay rises, they spent their time undermining workers’ rights.”

The ABCC was set up by the former Howard government to combat lawlessness in the construction industry.

It was then shut down by Labor’s Gillard government in 2012, before the Coalition’s Abbott government tried and failed to get support to pass legislation reviving the ABCC in 2015.

The body was ultimately restored in 2016, after then-prime minister Malcolm Turnbull used the legislation to trigger a double dissolution election, where all Senate spots are vacated instead of half.

Code introduced as parliament returns

Mr Burke said an interim building code would come into effect on Tuesday, as the 47th parliament formally opens.

The new parliament will look very different to the last with more diverse parliamentarians and the biggest crossbench in more than a generation agitating for action on climate change and integrity.

The economy will feature heavily in the sitting fortnight, with Treasurer Jim Chalmers making a statement to parliament on Thursday, reiterating there are challenging times ahead.

While the first legislative item on Labor’s agenda is a new climate change bill to legislate its commitment to reduce emissions by 43 per cent by 2030.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government would be introducing at least 18 pieces of legislation in its first week in parliament.

“We don’t want to waste a day,” he told Sky News on Sunday.

“Australia has had a decade of neglect and drift.

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