Building and Construction Industry (Improving Productivity) Bill 2013

The majority voted in favour of a motion to read the bill a second time. This means that the majority of MPs agree with the main idea in the bill, which was to re-establish the Australian Building and Construction Commission (‘ABCC’).

The House subsequently agreed to a motion to read the bill for a third time without division. This means that the bill was passed in the House and can now be sent to the Senate for their consideration.

Background to the bill

The ABCC was originally established by the Coalition Government in 2005 in response to the Royal Commission into the Building and Construction Industry, which found that there was “widespread disregard of the rule of law” within the industry.( Summary of Findings and Recommendations (1.9MB). For a more general introduction on the ABCC, see the Wikipedia page. ) The Labor Government abolished the ABCC in 2012.

Re-establishing the ABCC was one of the Liberal Party’s policies going into the 2013 election and the bill reflects this.( Improving the Fair Work Laws policy)