Cole insider highlights "Agenda"

Legislation arising from the Cole Royal Commission is "narrow, 
divisive and confrontational", says an academic who wrote key 
Commission discussion papers. Martin Loosemore, professor of 
construction management at the University of NSW, warned that 
former Workplace Relations Minister Tony Abbott's reform package 
could create more problems for the construction industry than it 
solved.

Loosemore, contracted by Cole to analyse industry productivity, 
was disappointed by the Federal Government's response to the $60 
million Commission.

"The narrowness of the reforms is disappointing", Loosemore said. 
"The fact that they just concentrated on IR when there were a 
huge number of problems faced by the industry.

"A lot of very useful information was collected but most of it 
has been ignored. From an outside perspective, you could be 
forgiven for thinking there was some sort of agenda."

Professors Loosemore and Denny McGeorge told the Commission, in 
discussion papers, that on international indicators Australian 
building and construction shaped up well, finishing first or 
second on most indicators.

However, they argued, it was not as productive as other sectors 
of the domestic economy.

"We are doing quite well, very well in many ways, but there is a 
case for reform and IR is one element of that. What's missing is 
any leadership on all the other reforms the industry needs."

Loosemore said construction needed to lift its game on training 
practices, contractual reform, human resource management, 
procurement practices and the fact that price, rather than 
quality, drove investment. None of these issues, he said, had 
been addressed by proposed legislation.

His comments come as legislation introduced by Tony Abbott runs 
into a storm of controversy.

Abbott's Bill seeks to severely restrict the ability of building 
workers to take industrial action over safety, wages or 
conditions. It would introduce massive fines and prison terms for 
union members who breach its provisions, allow union officials to 
be barred from the industry, even for technical breaches, and 
would be policed by a special taxpayer-funded taskforce.

The description of the Cole Commission by the trade unions as a 
"witch-hunt" has won unlikely endorsement from a leading Perth 
builder with a history of run-ins with the Construction Division 
of the CFMEU.

Daren Deen, general manager of Perth-based Sizer Builders, echoed 
union criticisms at an industry seminar in Melbourne.

"I share the union's view that the royal commission was a 
political witch-hunt", Deen said.

"My view that the royal commission was a political witch-hunt is 
also shaped by the inflammatory rhetoric pumped out during the 
hearings and the Government's behaviour afterwards."

A stunned CFMEU WA Secretary, Kevin Reynolds, said Deen's 
comments reflected opinions other builders were only prepared to 
express in private.

"Deen is no friend of the CFMEU's, so it's interesting that that 
is his view", Reynolds said.

Another hurdle for Abbott's contentious legislation is expected 
to come from a full Senate Inquiry to begin hearings in December. 
The Inquiry is likely to give voice to dozens of industry players 
denied a say by the Cole Commission.

Unions believe the Senate hearings will become an inquiry into an 
inquiry, testing their views that the Cole Commission was 
unbalanced and partisan.