The government needs the support of six of the eight crossbench senators to pass the Australian Building and Construction Commission legislation. So where do they stand on it? Guardian Australia has rounded up the commentary from most of the crossbenchers since Malcolm Turnbull ordered them to pass the bill or face a double-dissolution election.
The yes camp
Bob Day, Family First senator: “I voted for it last time. I will certainly vote for it this time ... If the government had been more patient, they would have got that last vote over the line. Given the events of last week and the almost complete breakdown in relationship between the government and the crossbench, I would doubt now whether it would go through. That will be for my crossbench colleagues to decide.”
The no camp
John Madigan, independent senator: “I don’t respond to intimidation and always make decisions according to my conscience ... I’ve attempted on a number of occasions to raise my concerns [about the ABCC bill] with the government and it’s water off a duck’s back.”
Ricky Muir, Motoring Enthusiast party senator: “I’m very disappointed. Would this make me vote for the ABCC legislation? No ... It would be a sad day in Australian democracy if we all folded and voted for the government because they actually put a gun to our head.”
The maybes
David Leyonhjelm, Liberal Democratic senator: “I’m not going to say I’m going to support it or vote against it until I hear from the government. I want to know what they are going to say to me to convince me that I should support their bill. I don’t much like it. It’s got some elements in it that I don’t like ... I haven’t ruled it out. I can’t imagine I would vote against the bill. It will be a choice between abstaining and voting for it, subject to amendments.”
Glenn Lazarus, independent senator: “I said to Malcolm I’m happy to vote for the ABCC if he makes it an Icac or equivalent. If I don’t vote for it, which I won’t in its current form ... At the end of the day I want to sleep at night and if I voted for the ABCC in its current form, I wouldn’t be able to because I know it’s a rubbish bill.”
Nick Xenophon, independent senator: “I will vote in favour of the second reading stages of the bill, as I did last time, because I believe there ought to be an independent watchdog in terms of our construction industry. But I do have reservations about issues of occupational health and safety because I believe that unions have a very critically important role in terms of occupational health and safety to ensure we have safe workplaces. That is something I’ve made clear to the government.”
Dio Wang, Palmer United party senator: “Since the trade union royal commission report was handed down at Christmas, we have been working with the government on amendments to strengthen the ABCC bill and – after a hiatus in their responsiveness in recent weeks during their restructure of the Senate – we can now look forward to these improvements being finalised by the legislative drafters for pending circulation to the crossbench, the Liberal-National-Greens-Xenophon Coalition and the opposition.”
The Greens
Richard Di Natale, Greens leader: “The ABCC legislation is bad legislation and the Greens have stood against it from its inception ... Malcolm Turnbull is adopting the same tactics that people in the construction industry – he says – are using. That is, bullying tactics, that is using a piece of legislation to bludgeon his way through the Senate.”
The government
George Brandis, attorney general: “The government wants to pass this legislation and we want to pass it in its current form. We haven’t seen any amendments ... I’m not going to comment on hypotheticals.”
