NEW LEGISLATION to place all construction and general division branches of the CFMEU into administration has been introduced into Parliament.

Peak building and construction industry association, Master Builders Australia welcomed the legislation as an important first step to ridding the industry of toxic and lawbreaking culture.

“We urge all parties to support the legislation currently before them and stress this is only the first in a series of measures that are required to stamp out this culture once and for all,” Master Builders CEO Denita Wawn said.

“The CFMEU has breached workplace law 2,600 times in more than 20 years, accumulating $24 million in fines.

“After decades of this behaviour, it’s clear the union cannot clean up its own backyard, and we think the use of independent administrators, as a first step, is the most effective way to achieve meaningful and lasting change.

“History has shown us that deregistration of construction unions doesn’t work. What we need is long-term, lasting cultural change which means changing the people who promote and thrive in this environment," Ms Wawn said.

“Calls for yet another review or inquiry, while well intentioned, will not help government, law enforcement and regulators get on with the job, because we already know what the problems are, how they arise, and how to fix them.

“We need action now. It must be swift; it must be permanent," she said. "The building and construction industry can no longer be a political football.

“Following the passage of this legislation, the Federal Government should move to establish a dedicated building and construction industry watchdog with real teeth.

“To ensure the regulator works effectively, it must have oversight on a range of matters, including workplace, safety, competition, corporations, governance and training.

“It would also be home to a dedicated cross-jurisdictional police unit to oversee and coordinate a strong law enforcement presence in the building and construction industry," Ms Wawn said.

“We thank Minister Murray Watt for working constructively with the industry to undertake meaningful changes to address the systemic issues within the CFMEU."

www.masterbuilders.com.au

ends

THE Joint Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs is seeking submissions to its parliamentary inquiry into the Truth and Justice Commission Bill 2024, introduced in the Senate by Yamatji-Noongar Senator Dorinda Cox.

The committee is welcoming submissions from interested individuals and organisations on any or all aspects of the Bill by Friday, September 6.

The Bill proposes to establish a Federal Truth and Justice Commission, which would provide a national framework for truth-telling about the history and impacts of colonisation, dispossession, and systemic racism on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The commission would also make recommendations on how to advance justice, healing, raise awareness and increase public understanding, and reconciliation for First Nations communities and the wider Australian society.

Chair of the committee, Mutthi Mutthi and Wamba Wamba Senator Jana Stewart, said the inquiry was an opportunity to hear from stakeholders and experts on the merits and challenges of the provisions in the Bill.

Further information on the inquiry, including the terms of reference and how to contribute, is available on the Committee’s website.

ends

THE Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) has presented its Review of the listing of Ansar Allah as a terrorist organisation under the Criminal Code.

Ansar Allah, commonly known as the Houthi movement, is a violent extremist organisation based in Yemen, which has conducted numerous violent attacks against Yemeni government forces and civilians. In addition, Ansar Allah has targeted foreign states and recently attacked numerous foreign-owned vessels passing through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait between the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea.

The report examines the listing of Ansar Allah as a terrorist organisation under the Criminal Code for the first time.

The committee concluded that it was satisfied that the appropriate process had been followed and that Ansar Allah met the definition of a terrorist organisation. Specifically, the organisation is directly engaged in preparing, planning assisting in or fostering the doing of a terrorist acts.

Chair of the Committee, Peter Khalil MP said, "The committee agrees that in the interest of protecting national and global security, it is appropriate to list Ansar Allah as a terrorist organisation under the Criminal Code."

Further information on the inquiry can be obtained from the Committee’s website.

ends

THE House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics will hold its second biannual public hearing with the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), Michele Bullock, on Friday, August 16. Additional RBA representatives will also appear.

Committee Chair Daniel Mulino MP said the RBA’s decision this week to leave interest rates unchanged was “welcome news to those who feared a rate rise, but no doubt very frustrating to the many praying for rate relief”.

Consumer price data for the June quarter showed a slight easing in the RBA’s preferred inflation measure to 3.9 percent, forestalling the risk of another rate rise for now. However, the RBA says inflation is still too high and has fallen very little over the past year. The RBA has foreshadowed that it will take inflation longer than previously predicted to return to target, and that restrictive monetary policy will continue.

Dr Mulino said the committee would continue its scrutiny of the RBA’s work as the bank strives to return Australia to its target inflation band of 2–3 percent, in an environment of growing global volatility and domestic cost of living pressures.

Dr Mulino said, “The RBA says it believes Australia is still on the ‘narrow path’ to a soft landing, but we also know that both inflation and mortgage stress are causing real pain for our households and businesses. The country relies on sound decision-making by the RBA and the committee looks forward to questioning Governor Bullock and her colleagues about their recent decisions and the path forward.”

Dr Mulino said the committee was also interested in the RBA’s evolving regulatory remit for payment systems, including Buy Now Pay Later services and credit card payments.

Public hearing details 

Date: Friday, 16 August 2024
Time: 9.30am – 12.30pm
Location: Committee Room 2R1, Parliament House, Canberra

The hearing will be broadcast live at aph.gov.au/live.

ends

THE Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (the committee) has today tabled its Advisory Report on the Crimes and Other Legislation Amendment (Omnibus No. 1) Bill 2024.

The Bill amends and clarifies the intended operation of various crime-related laws, including:

• expressly authorising police, when executing search warrants, to seize digital assets, such as cryptocurrency;
• extending the investigative and freezing powers under existing proceeds of crime laws to apply to digital currency exchanges;
• increasing the value of the Commonwealth ‘penalty unit’ from $313 to $330;
• creating a position of Communications Security Coordinator in the Department of Home Affairs;
• amending information-sharing provisions to ensure state-based oversight bodies for integrity agencies can access material that has been lawfully intercepted by the agencies they oversee.

The committee recommended that the Bill be passed by the Parliament, subject to one technical amendment to ensure that the Bill’s changes in relation to the Parliamentary Inspector of the Corruption and Crime Commission of Western Australia are fully effective.

The committee also made two recommendations for future reforms, including:

• that the government consider whether state-based oversight bodies should be given access to stored communications and telecommunications data held by the integrity agencies within their jurisdictions; and
• amendments to ensure that Ministerial declarations of new entities authorised to access stored communications or telecommunications data are subject to review.

Peter Khalil MP, Chair of the PJCIS, said, "The committee welcomes the measures in this Bill, which will help ensure that key law enforcement and security legislation remains effective, fit-for-purpose and subject to appropriate oversight.

“The committee looks forward to continuing to be engaged in the review of legislation to reform Australia’s electronic surveillance powers.”

The full report and further information on the inquiry can be obtained from the Committee’s website.

ends

TOMORROW, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Milton Dick MP will be in Canberra, as part of the Parliament in Schools program.

Students will learn about federation, democracy and the Australian Parliament, as well as hear first-hand from the Speaker and their local member on what a typical day looks like in their electorate and when they are in Parliament House for sitting weeks.

The Speaker will visit Sacred Heart Primary School and St Anthony’s Parish Primary School with David Smith MP, Government Whip and Federal Member for Bean.

“Since we launched this program, we have visited over 100 schools across Australia – from King Island to Far North Queensland, to Nullagine and now we are bringing it back to Canberra,” Mr Dick said.

“The Parliament in Schools program is an integral part of improving civics education across Australia.

“These students are our future leaders, and it is important that we equip them with the information and tools they need, to go on to be active and engaged citizens.”

About the Parliament in Schools program

Launched in September 2022, the Parliament in Schools program is a bi-partisan initiative to make civics education accessible to students regardless of their location. In collaboration with local federal members, the Speaker is visiting schools across Australia to bring parliament to them.

The program is an extension to well-established Parliamentary Education Office (PEO) onsite, digital and outreach education programs available to schools across Australia.

It also complements the existing PEO online and print resources that are curriculum-aligned, for Australian teachers and students.

www.peo.gov.au

ends

ends

THE Independent Education Union (IEU) has welcomed the ‘historic announcement’ that the Federal Labor Government will spend $3.6 billion to fund pay increases that will mean teachers in long day care centres throughout Australia get a 15 percent pay rise above the current rate in the Modern Award.

This will be dealt out as 10 percent in December 2024 and another 5 percent a year later. IEU also welcomed the proposed 4.4 percent cap on fee increases for parents over the next 12 months.

The long day care sector provides quality early childhood education and care services to hundreds of thousands of children and parents all year round. Under the Modern Award, an experienced teacher in a long day care centre is currently paid $93,000 a year. The new top rate after the 15 percent increase will be over $107,000. For a highly feminised sector, this is a vital step towards closing the gender pay gap.

“Today we’re seeing the historic outcome of unions, the Federal Government and a group of 64 employers working together to lift pay and conditions across the long day care sector,” Independent Education Union of Australia NSW/ACT branch secretary Carol Matthews said.

“The education and care of our youngest children is important and indispensable work. These long overdue increases better reflect the valuable work of early childhood teachers in laying the vital foundations for our children’s development and lifelong learning.”

The pay rises, to be funded by the Federal Government, will help ease critical teacher shortages in long day care centres across the country. Early childhood teachers have been leaving in droves to take up roles in schools and other sectors where the salaries and conditions are substantially better.

“This is a big shift but work still needs to be done,” Ms Matthews said. “The gap in pay and conditions between teachers in the early childhood sector and those in schools is still too big.

“Teachers are teachers no matter the age of their students, and we will keep fighting until there is equity between teachers in the early childhood education and care sector and those in schools.”

The IEU is currently discussing with the Federal Government how the funding will be distributed and the mechanisms to ensure the full increase in funding is passed on to teachers and educators as pay rises. It is expected this will occur through the proposed new enterprise agreement which will include not only the pay rises but other improved conditions aiming to boost workforce attraction and retention, professionalism and service quality.

The IEU joined with the United Workers Union (UWU) and the Australian Education Union (AEU) to access the supported bargaining stream in new industrial relations laws passed as part of the Secure Jobs Better Pay Act in 2022.

The provision enables unions to bargain for enterprise agreements with groups of employers in a sector rather than in individual enterprises. The laws aim to address the long-term failure to properly value work in feminised sectors such as early childhood education and care.

“Today’s outcome better values the work that teachers in long day care centres do every day,” Ms Matthews said. “Long day care staff, children, parents and the community are all better off because of today’s decision.”

www.ieu.asn.au

ends

THE House of Representatives Standing Committee on Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water will be travelling to Melbourne this week as part of its inquiry into the transition to electric vehicles (EVs).

The committee will undertake two site visits in Melbourne; the first to Infinitev, a business that is reusing, repurposing and recycling hybrid and EV batteries, and the second to an ANCAP Safety test facility where the committee will view an EV or hybrid model crash test.

A full day public hearing will be held on Thursday,  August 8, where the committee will hear from industry stakeholders, including representatives from health and environmental groups, the petroleum and motor industries, and emergency services about Australia’s transition to EVs.

Committee Chair, Tony Zappia MP, said, "The committee has heard valuable evidence about the benefits and challenges that the transition to EVs presents. We are looking forward to meeting with witnesses in Melbourne to delve deeper into these issues to help inform our inquiry."

The program for the public hearings can be found here.

The committee will be holding further public hearings in Brisbane and Canberra in September 2024. Further information about the inquiry is available on the Committee’s website.

Public hearing details

Date: 8 August 2024
Time: 9.15am – 4.15pm
Location: Legislative Council Committee Room, Parliament of Victoria, Spring St, Melbourne.
Witnesses: Doctors for the Environment Australia, National Automotive Leasing and Salary Packaging Association, ANCAP Safety, Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council, Lithium Australia, bp Australia, Motor Trades Association of Australia, Victorian Automotive Chamber of Commerce, Infrastructure Victoria, Victorian Greenhouse Alliance, Australasian Convenience and Petroleum Marketers Association.

ends