Police are apparently monitoring activity on building sites, according to an article on www.afr.com
According to the article written by Larry Schlesinger, members of the federal police could be assigned to monitor the activities of unions on building sites, as a part of the new Coalition government’s plans to root out unlawful activities.
The following excerpt from www.afr.com explains
The Australian Financial Review understands Prime Minister-elect Tony Abbott is considering a range of non-parliamentary measures as it faces a likely challenge in the Senate from Greens and Labor to plans to bring back the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC).
Richard Calver, legal counsel at Master Builders, said there were a number of interim measures the government could introduce that would change the outlook ahead of being able to bring back the ABCC.
These include outsourcing investigations of underpayment of wages and other breaches to the Fair Work Ombudsman and freeing up Fair Work Building and Construction inspectors to investigate unlawful activity.
“It’s about a changing of mindset, providing greater resources and a sharper focus on enforcement,” he said.
Source: http://www.afr.com/p/australia2-0/police_to_monitor_union_activity_CuDJRtUd4JLHXrpocqRcBN
The post went on to explain the Senator Eric Abetz is expected to take on the responsibility of the ABCC and have a stricter industrial relations approach as workplace relations minister. The government has committed to moving quickly on the issue.
The government is so committed to moving swiftly on the issue that they have set a 100 day time frame within which to accomplish this.
Building groups were also happy with the government’s pledge to accomplish this within 100 days.
Members of the building industry said they supported the government’s efforts and its desired timeframe however they hoped that it was done in a manner that protects worker’s rights and includes the appropriate communication. Because the matter of health and safety is so important to both workers and employers, it is vital that we get it right.
Unfortunately the only way we are going to see any improvements in the building industry is if we apply all workplace health and safety rules, including those pertaining to general safety training – this is particularly important.
Some would argue that general construction safety training is central to site health and safety because it is the foundation upon which every worker’s knowledge and education about all construction health and safety issues are built.
In other words every worker that begins work in the construction industry must first complete general construction safety training, in the form of White Card Training.
The federal government long ago realised the importance of this training which is why they mandated this training for every person whose work takes them onto a construction site. That is why complete site safety cannot be achieved without all workers first completing this training.
General Construction Induction Training is a nationally accredited competency unit known as “Work safely in the construction industry”. The general construction induction training also known as the White Card is nationally recognised and allows for uniformity within the construction industry across Oz. Go to our homepage to learn more about this training.