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QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE – INFRASTRUCTURE

Aug 10, 2017 | In Parliament, Latest Speeches

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Mr WALLACE  (Fisher) (15:03): My question to Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. Will the minister update the House on the rollout of the government’s $75 billion infrastructure investment plan and how projects are benefitting communities across Australia, including in my electorate of Fisher? Is the minister aware of any threats to the successful rollout of infrastructure projects?

Mr CHESTER  (Gippsland—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) (15:04): I thank the member for Fisher for his question. I recognise he is a passionate advocate for infrastructure in his electorate. We have seen record funding for the Bruce Highway and the Sunshine Coast Airport. He, along with the member of Fairfax, are great champions for connecting this magnificent part of Queensland with the infrastructure that will provide long-term benefits to the whole region.

The member for Fisher actually began his working life as a carpenter and joiner, as an apprentice, and went on to become a builder and then a construction lawyer, with over 30 years’ experience in the industry. He understands better than most the need for value for money for taxpayers on our construction sites.

This government is committed—right across Australia, through a record infrastructure investment program of $75 billion over 10 years—to delivering jobs, improving productivity and reducing congestion. The Turnbull-Joyce government is committed to delivering infrastructure, driving productivity and ensuring good value for money, right across Australia.

We are also committed to making sure that small businesses can compete fairly, without the fear of union intimidation. We have successfully passed legislation relating to corruption—the corrupting benefits bill, the registered organisations bill, and bills to do with the ABCC and the building code. And this legislation is important because it makes sure that the government can deliver value for money, despite heavy-handed union tactics.

This is what the CEO of the Council of Small Business of Australia, Peter Strong, had to say in the Australian Financial Review just last month about union tactics:

This problem of union bullying is even more sinister.

Small business people, their families and their employees are being targeted by a particularly nasty part of the union movement.

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We want and need the leader of the Labor Party and other elected Labor members of parliament and senators to not just condemn this behaviour but to take action.

I’m afraid they’ll be waiting for a very long time for this leader of the Labor Party to take any action when it comes to union bullying.

You can’t trust Labor with jobs. Those opposite are a threat to jobs in the small business sector. Small businesses employ 5.6 million Australians. On this side of the House, we’re on the side of small business people and the people they employ. Labor takes orders from their union bosses. We’re cleaning up work sites, while they’re covering up the union bullying tactics at every opportunity.

Don’t take my word for it. Secret payments were uncovered during the Heydon royal commission. This is evidence from the Heydon royal commission: Thiess John Holland paid the AWU Victoria $100,000 plus GST for each of the three years of construction of the $2.5 billion EastLink project to extend a freeway in eastern Melbourne between 2005 and 2007. These payments were disguised by false invoices from the AWU in varying amounts. Now the government has banned these secret and corrupting payments from businesses to unions.

We’re on the side of small businesses. We are on the side of Australian workers. On this side, we’re supporting jobs, we’re supporting small business people, we’re supporting infrastructure investment and we’re supporting lower energy prices. We’re getting on with the job of delivering a safer, stronger and better Australia. And the Turnbull-Joyce government is delivering for all Australians. (Time expired)

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