The head of the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) will continue to earn more than $450,000 of taxpayers’ money while his role is in limbo and his powers all but removed until the government can legislate his removal, while a key crossbencher calls for assurances the industry won’t be worse off.
Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke announced the scrapping of a controversial building code on Sunday, stripping the ABCC of much of its power ahead of Labor’s flagged legislation to abolish the agency.
Australian Building and Construction Commission boss Stephen McBurney’s $450,000 job will be left in limbo.Credit:Dominic Lorrimer
But doubt has been cast over the ability of the Fair Work Ombudsman, the general workplace watchdog, to handle the caseload of the ABCC – created by the Coalition government in 2016 to tackle lawlessness in the construction sector – after Burke announced the former would take carriage of almost 40 outstanding prosecutions with no extra funding guaranteed.
Independent senator David Pocock, who has previously raised concerns about the proposed abolition of the ABCC, and who will be a crucial vote in whether or not to allow the agency to be axed, called on the government to outline its intentions for the industry in the agency’s absence.
“I respect that the government has a mandate to abolish the ABCC, what I am asking for is a sensible discussion about what the plan is for once it is gone, that focuses on safety, productivity and worker wellbeing,” Pocock said.
“It’s crucial we have a system that is fit-for-purpose and ensures we have safe, productive construction sites going forward.”
Senator David Pocock wants assurances for the construction industry if the ABCC is to be axed.Credit:Rhett Wyman
Burke, who views the ABCC as a “politicised and discredited organisation” that hounds unions, said the replacement of the Code for the Tendering and Performance of Building Work – known as the building code – was a downpayment on the agency’s removal by scrapping rules onerously restricting workplace agreements and preventing the display of union insignia.
Parts of the union movement are now preparing to insert new pay rights and clauses to bolster the employment of apprentices and women into enterprise agreements later this year.
The ABCC was blindsided by Burke’s Sunday morning television announcement to strip it of a raft of powers, leaving the building industry scrambling to understand the consequences of the decision after receiving no warning.
A spokesperson for the commission said the commissioner, Stephen McBurney, was still trying to understand what his role would now entail following the decision.
“The ABCC Commissioner remains in his job for the time being. Like most of the staff of the ABCC, he has been given no assurances about his position or his future,” the spokesperson said.
A spokesperson for Burke said McBurney – who earns $455,590 in his role – still retained other powers under the Act the agency was created under, such as prosecuting unlawful industrial action, until the act could be repealed.
“That’s why the Albanese Labor government is committed to legislating the abolition of the ABCC by the end of the year,” the spokesperson said.
The Fair Work Ombudsman will be policing worksites and handling the dozens of outstanding prosecutions, 36 of which are against the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Unio (CFMMEU) n, but the government confirmed that will not be done until the ABCC is abolished.
Industry body the Australian Construction Association is concerned the Ombudsman isn’t appropriately resourced and will not be as inclined to prosecute breaches as the ABCC.
Burke’s spokesperson said the government was considering the staffing and funding required to enable the Fair Work Ombudsman to regulate the building and construction industry effectively.
The Coalition’s industrial relations spokeswoman Michaelia Cash on Monday defended a Federal Court ruling banning the Eureka flag on worksites, a key reason the government wants to scrap the ABCC, which was involved in the case.
“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,” Burke said on the ABC on Sunday.
Cash said the flag had long been held as a symbol of being a “closed shop” to non-unionised workers on building sites.
CFMMEU construction secretary Dave Noonan questioned whether Cash had ever been to Ballarat, where the Eureka rebellion, an integral part of Australian history, was staged. “Senator Cash’s comments are weird and delusional,” he said.
Electrical Trades Union national secretary Michael Wright said the loss of the restrictions around bargaining in the code meant workers in upcoming enterprise negotiations would look for greater clauses promoting greater security, as well as apprentice and gender ratios.
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