Monday, December 27, 2010

ABCC announce "sham" enquiry

Australian Building and Construction Commissioner Leigh Johns recently launched a sham contracting inquiry and said there was evidence of widespread abuse of contracting in the industry.

The ACTU will boycott the inquiry and "maintain its opposition to the ABCC", which it wants abolished.

The CFMEU construction national secretary Dave Noonan said the watchdog was trying to "put lipstick on the pig" with its inquiry.

"I think most of the unions feel the ABCC is striving for some credibility in the wake of the debacle of the Ark Tribe trial," Mr Noonan said.

The case against Mr Tribe, who faced up to six months in jail for not co-operating with a watchdog investigation, collapsed last month after a legal bungle. "Clearly Mr Johns is trying to put a new face on them and give them a makeover," Mr Noonan said. "Unions aren't interested in being part of a dog-and-pony show."

Mr Noonan said sham contracting was a serious problem but it needed a response from all arms of government. He said Mr Johns was trying "to give a bit more oxygen to the rapidly expiring ABCC", which had a large number of staff that were "union haters and remain so".

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