“The successful passage of the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Amendment (Ensuring Integrity) Bill 2019 through the House of Representatives is great news for the building and construction industry, the economy and the community,” Denita Wawn, CEO of Master Builders Australia said.
“The more than 370,000 small construction businesses and subcontractors will today be celebrating the passage of this key reform. It will mean there are real consequences for registered organisations and officials who operate like they’re above the law,” she said.
“The construction industry has for decades been afflicted by endless examples of unlawful and illegal conduct. This has been comprehensively examined and documented by four Royal Commissions, hundreds of court judgements and dozens of inquiries, reports and reviews that all find the same thing – that there is an ingrained, toxic culture where construction unions continue to go about bullying and breaking the law with impunity and pride,” she said.
“The construction unions refuse to abandon their toxic culture and as a result it’s getting worse for our members and our industry by the day. Since the start of 2017 alone, building unions have been slapped with almost $8 million in penalties and fines for over 800 breaches of the law spanning almost 40 separate court cases,” Denita Wawn said.
“Our industry is the nation’s second largest and provides the most full time jobs in the economy. It will now be looking to the Senate to stand up and say ‘no’ to construction union bullying and intimidation and show they support the rule of law,” she said.
“The successful passage of this reform into law is crucial to Master Builders’ aim of helping construction workplaces to be just like all other normal workplaces, and for building unions to operate like all other normal unions,” Denita Wawn said.
“Everyone in the building and construction industry simply want nothing more than to get on with the job of building homes, schools, roads and hospitals and be free from the intimidation and bullying by those who put the interests of unions above those of workers and jobs,” Denita Wawn said.
