Malcolm Turnbull has hit out at conservative commentators who have criticised the large number of concessions the government made on its bill for a tougher building industry regulator, labelling them “armchair critics”.
In a media blitz at the end of the last sitting week of parliament, Turnbull trumpeted the achievement of passing the two double dissolution trigger bills and called for increased security in parliament.
There have been two major protests at parliament in two days, with refugee advocates disrupting question time on Wednesday and protesters dyeing the fountain red on Thursday morning.
On Wednesday the Senate passed the Australian Building and Construction Commission bill after numerous amendments including further checks and balances on its powers, a two-year phase-in for the building code, and a requirement that builders demonstrate that no Australian citizen or resident wants a job before hiring someone else.
The concessions have been criticised by conservative commentators including Judith Sloan and Grace Collier, who are particularly concerned that the two-year phase-in period means the code will never be implemented if Labor is re-elected in the meantime.
It will also leave companies that concluded enterprise agreements in anticipation of a tougher code at a competitive disadvantage to other companies including Lend Lease, they argue.
Turnbull told 2GB radio in Sydney the prospect the code would be torn up was a “very good reason for Labor not to be elected”.
He said the government had already planned to have a nine-month grace period, before agreeing to Derryn Hinch’s plan for a two-year delay.
Turnbull said that Sloan didn’t know “the real job of getting things done”.
“It’s easy to be an armchair critic. Sitting on the sidelines, sitting there writing your column in the Australian, knowing everything,” he said.
“My job is to deliver; I’m marked on results.
“In order to get that legislation through I had to seek compromises and reach agreements and the alternative was exactly what we had in the last parliament – zero.”
Turnbull told ABC AM that only the building code has a two-year delay, but all the other provisions, including increased penalties and examination powers of the building commissioner, apply from day one.
Turnbull defended the charge that amendments negotiated by the Nick Xenophon Team to procurement policy amounted to protectionism.
He said the changes would “encourage contractors to work harder and look harder for Australian components” but projects would still be “assessed on price”.
Builders would still be able to refuse to use Australian steel because it was too expensive, but that claim would be “assessed on its merit”.
Turnbull also used hius radio interview to criticise refugee protesters who disrupted question time on Wednesday, accusing them of “denying democracy”.
“And it tells you a lot about the Greens party in particular that they praised them. Imagine that, they praise people who interfere with democracy, who wanted to shut down the parliament.”
Turnbull said erecting a glass barrier in front of the public gallery would be considered but he was personally “very reluctant” to do so.
He said it would interfere with the sense parliament was the people’s house, and suggested instead that security should “do a better job of checking who is coming in and more quickly moving out if they do the wrong thing”.
Turnbull said he was surprised no charges had been laid, but that was a matter for the police.
“There’s got to be a strong message sent that if you want to come into this place and disrupt the people’s house in that way, then there has to be a very strong message sent that that is not acceptable.”
