ACTU secretary Jeff Lawrence, who cut short an overseas trip when he heard the Government was rushing in the legislation, was in Canberra last night as part of a union protest against the Government's stance.
Workplace Relations Minister Julia Gillard confirmed the legislation will come to Parliament this week.
From February 1 it will replace the Australian Building and Construction Commission, but have a specialist section in the new Fair Work industrial relations system. The compulsory interrogation powers will stay, with considerable safeguards, as recommended by former judge Murray Wilcox.
Senator Cameron said he was not convinced the Wilcox report had made the case for retaining the powers, and there was no political case for doing so.
"There's no way the party went to the election arguing it would treat workers like organised criminals or terrorists."
The powers had been a massive overreaction by the Howard government, which used them as a political tool, he said.
Mr Lawrence said: "We reject the Government's argument that it has a mandate to maintain discriminatory laws for the construction industry."
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