From my latest op-ed in the West:
We’ve learnt a lot about the weakness of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in the past month.
Mr Albanese initially equivocated and failed to strongly condemn CFMEU boss John Setka when the union bully boy tried to stand over the AFL.
Mr Setka demanded the AFL sack umpire boss Stephen McBurney because of his previous role as commissioner of the Australian Building and Construction Commission.
Mr Albanese’s weakness was further exposed when he was directly defied by first-term 29-year-old Labor Senator Fatima Payman.
She first crossed the floor of Parliament in support of Palestinian statehood before saying she would do it again after Mr Albanese punished her by telling her she would have to miss one caucus meeting.
After considering that wet lettuce leaf of punishment and then further defying Mr Albanese, Senator Payman eventually quit the Labor Party to sit as an independent.
Even former Labor senator and powerbroker Graham Richardson described Albanese’s response to the Senator Payman crisis as “weak.”
But the crisis that has engulfed the CFMEU, a union deeply entrenched with the Labor Government, surely puts the icing on top of Mr Albanese’s weakness cake.
The Albanese Labor Government should have deregistered the CFMEU, not moved to place parts of it into administration.
Look at the revelations about the CFMEU that came tumbling out. The union has been deeply infiltrated by bikies, gangland and underworld criminal figures.
There was a litany of evidence that the militant union had been involved in appalling behaviour including violence, thuggery, intimidation and bullying.
But it’s typical of Mr Albanese to take the weak option when dealing with the CFMEU, which is exactly what he has done by placing the union into administration rather than deregistering it.
Mr Albanese and Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke need to stop acting like they are surprised by the appalling revelations about the union.
It has been known for years that the CFMEU is riddled with criminal elements who have been involved in violence, thuggery, intimidation and bullying.
By his actions, Mr Albanese has shown Australians he is no Bob Hawke, who had the courage to deregister the rogue Builders Labourers Federation.
And Labor’s claim that administration is a tougher option than deregistration is spurious nonsense.
Appointing an administrator is unlikely to have any long-term impact on the CFMEU.
They will still have all their systems in place and we will see individuals from the old leadership continue to pull the strings behind the scenes.
When the period of administration is over they will simply return to their old practices.
The CFMEU needs to be deregistered and a new body established which respects law and order and works in the best interests of its members.
The CFMEU has made it clear over a number of years that it has no intention of changing its ways. The industry needs a fresh start.
Most importantly, an administrator is no replacement for the Australian Building and Construction Commission which ensured the CFMEU and its officials were kept in check.
The Albanese Government needs to re-establish this body as soon as possible and give it enhanced powers to fight corruption and lawlessness in our construction sector.
Australians deserve nothing less.
Having the CFMEU in charge of this nation’s building sites is damaging to our national economy. Australia’s construction industry is vital for the delivery of infrastructure, including roads, schools and hospitals.
Our construction sector employs more than a million Australians. It is made up of hundreds of thousands of small businesses. We cannot have this sector held to ransom by criminals and underworld figures.
What this means for Australian taxpayers is that the cost of building important infrastructure they pay for and rely on will continue to increase.
This in turn will lead to further cost of living pressures for all Australians.
Labor should also legislate the former Coalition government’s Ensuring Integrity Bill of 2019, which Labor fought tooth and nail against at the time.
This Bill would introduce a range of measures to ensure registered organisations work for their members and not themselves.
It would give the court powers to disqualify officials of registered organisations that don’t act in the interest of members, have a history of breaking the law or are otherwise not fit and proper to hold office in a registered organisation.
Penalties for breaches of the Fair Work Act need to be increased along with tightening the fit and proper person test for right of entry onto construction sites.
The Coalition will bring a Bill to Parliament when we return in August to legislate the restoration of the Australian Building and Construction Commission.
This was the only body that ever stood up to the CFMEU’s lawlessness. Unfortunately, Mr Albanese abolished the ABCC to appease his union donors and his political allies at the CFMEU.
Since Anthony Albanese became Labor leader, the Labor Party has received $6.2 million in donations from the CFMEU.
If Mr Albanese refuses to restore the ABCC, it will show that the CFMEU still control the Australian Labor Party.
The Albanese Government is extremely conflicted.
Mr Albanese and Labor spent the last two years giving the CFMEU everything they want, including control of Australia’s construction sector when he abolished the ABCC.
The CFMEU chaos we see today is a result of his actions.
Only the Coalition can work effectively to clean up the Australian construction industry.
Albanese’s Cabinet and Ministry Reshuffle
On Thursday it was announced that there would be a reshuffle following the resignations of Linda Burney and Brendan O’Connor.
The ultimate test for the Prime Minister will be whether he has the backbone to remove the hopeless Immigration Minister.
With the release of criminals into the Australian community and no effective action to undo his own damage, Minister Giles must not be shifted - he must be sacked.
If the Prime Minister had any backbone he would send Andrew Giles to the backbench - let it be a very clear message to other Ministers that if you underperform in the way that Andrew Giles has, don't expect to be in the Government Ministry.
It's another show of this Prime Minister's weak leadership, more beholden to Labor factions than the best interests of the Australian people.
Labor Can’t Be Trusted On Migration
When you look at each of the Government's projections, they keep telling Australians that the number of migrants coming into the country will go down, but instead they go up on each when you look at the actual figures as opposed to the projected figures.
This skewed policy approach is inflationary – it's putting more upward pressure on interest rates.
Labor has brought in almost a million people over the last two years.
But we've only built 265,000 homes. So they've created a housing crisis in our country.
In turn that has been made worse because of the CFMEU activity sanctioned by the Prime Minister, swinging a wrecking ball through the building sector which has driven up prices and made it harder to find builders.
People are sleeping in cars or sleeping rough at the moment, can't find accommodation. Young people can't find or afford a first home.
All this is while the Prime Minister is proposing over a five year period to bring in 1.67 million people - which is a population the size of Adelaide.
Let’s Get Australia Back On Track
As Peter Dutton explains, first we will rein in inflationary spending to take the pressure off inflation.
As a start, we will not spend $13.7 billion on corporate welfare for green hydrogen and critical minerals.
Second, we will wind-back Labor’s intervention and remove regulatory roadblocks which are suffocating the economy and stopping businesses from getting ahead.
We will condense approval processes and cut back on Labor’s red tape which is killing mining, jobs, and entrepreneurialism.
Third, we will remove the complexity and hostility of Labor’s industrial relations agenda which is putting unreasonable burdens on businesses.
For example, we will revert to the former Coalition Government’s simple definition of a casual worker and create certainty for our 2.5 million small businesses.
Fourth, we will provide lower, simpler and fairer taxes for all – because Australians should keep more of what they earn.
Fifth, we will deliver competition policy which gives consumers and smaller businesses a fair go – not lobbyists and big corporations.
And sixth, we will ensure Australians have more affordable and reliable energy.
Our economic plan – with its tried and tested principles – will restore competitiveness and rebuild economic confidence.