Master Builders Australia warns of cost blowouts if ABCC abolished

MASTER Builders Australia (MBA) continues to urge the next federal government to retain the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC), saying the cost of projects such as the Barwon Heads Road duplication could blow out by many millions of dollars if the ABCC is abolished.

MBA says the ABCC “is critical in minimising unnecessary costs and project risks that arise from delays and unlawful industrial action”, and commissioned a report from Ernst & Young to assess the cost impacts if the ABCC were abolished.

The report, released late last month, found removing the ABCC could lead to a potential $47.5 billion decline in overall economic activity by 2030 due to reduced efficiency, more industrial action and higher construction costs.

It uses the $365 million Barwon Heads Road duplication as one of four Victorian examples and states the project’s cost would rise by nearly $35 million to $398.2 million if the ABCC was abolished.

Established by the Liberals in 2016, the ABCC is an industry watchdog on major construction projects.

It will be abolished as a matter of policy if Labor forms government, as Labor argues the ABCC “relentlessly pursues union officials over minor infractions while doing little to stamp out wage theft or sham contracting in the construction industry or to address worksite safety and deaths”.

MBA held a forum with about 30 Geelong builders at the Geelong Events Centre earlier this month.

MBA chief executive officer Denita Wawn said Labor and the Liberals’ industrial relations policies were distinctively different but the MBA was most interested in helping its members make a decision on what was important to them.

“People will say ‘Oh, you’re pushing against Labor on the ABCC so you’re pro-Liberal’. No, we’re not. We fight on policy, so if the Liberal Party was putting a policy out there – and trust me, they don’t have many – then we would equally push hard on that as well.”

MBA Victorian president and Bellbrae builder Mark Little said issues raised by builders in Geelong – including contract flexibility, delays in council approvals, materials shortages and labour shortages – had been echoed at MBA forums across Australia.

“Everyone’s been feeling this pain for the past 12-15 months, and it’s still going on now, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to ease up any time soon.”