One Nation senator Rodney Culleton is worried the Australian Building and Construction Commission could harm union members’ rights, signalling a difference of opinion with colleague Malcolm Roberts over the bill.
Culleton also confirmed One Nation senators are free to vote their conscience and may split on the industrial relations bill, although a party spokesman said he expected the four senators would vote as a bloc.
In a speech to the HR Nichols Society earlier in October, Roberts said the “united party is inclined to support the government’s ABCC and [Registered Organisations Commission] legislation as it stands, because the bills promote freedom”.
Culleton said the party needed more time to consider the bill. It would finalise its position at the start of next week when parliament resumed.
“I want to make sure that there is no adverse pressure on those members, because it’s such a big cluster,” he said, referring to the Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union’s 130,000-odd members.
Culleton said although the CFMEU “didn’t crash” when the ABCC was last in place between 2005 and 2012, “we’ve got to make sure the members have rights and make sure they’re fully investigated”.
The CFMEU has criticised the tougher building regulator’s compulsory examination powers although business groups argue they are no more extensive than many other civil regulators.
Asked whether Roberts spoke for all four senators in expressing support, Culleton said: “The other senators haven’t indicated which way they’re going at all.
“We need unions. Under the G20, the ethos is to deflate and defang the unions.
“Unions are like good and bad bacteria in your gut. You need a balance of both for Australia. Especially in industries like construction and forestry.”
Culleton’s call for greater balance echoes the comments of Justice Party senator Derryn Hinch, who had said he wants the ABCC bill to be “pro-worker and anti-corruption”.
But Culleton warned unions needed to “show respect” and adopt a “a 21st century model, not to hold industries to ransom”.
“We’re not going to push things through just because the Coalition says we should,” he said. “At the moment my feeling is it needs more time; it needs the unions to start showing good changes.”
A key plank of the government’s case for the ABCC has been that more than 100 construction union officials are before the courts for industrial law breaches, including allegedly coercing employers to enter union agreements.
In his speech Roberts was strident, claiming taxpayers were paying “unreasonable costs for infrastructure because of the CFMEU”, echoing the government’s claims that the ABCC would lead to higher productivity.
“There are small businesses being frozen out of work in the construction industry because they won’t [go] along with the dictates of the CFMEU and other union bosses,” he said.
A One Nation spokesman said the party’s position had not been finalised and “all that [Roberts] said is we were looking favourably at certain parts of the legislation”.
“I believe that we’ll vote as a bloc ... We vote as a bloc on important legislation such as this.”
The government has 30 seats in the Senate. To pass the bills with One Nation support it will still need the Nick Xenophon Team’s three senators and two of the votes of senators David Leyonhjelm, Hinch and Family First’s Bob Day, who announced last week he would stay in the Senate to vote for the bills.
A One Nation split would make the bills’ passage harder, as Culleton and Hinch would be sufficient to block them with Labor, the Greens and Jacqui Lambie.
The NXT is still holding out for changes including ensuring the bill does not harm occupational health and safety by watering down right-of-entry rights and that the government consider national laws to protect subcontractors’ pay.
