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ACTU calls for abolishment of ABCC

The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions had taken legal action against Washington because he refused to attend an ABCC interview, according to ACTU secretary Jeff Lawrence.Lawrence said charging Washington was a waster of taxpayers’ money and resources.“The decision by the DPP to drop the charges renders the ABCC and its discriminatory laws even more obsolete,” he said.He said the new workplace relations laws introduced into federal parliament on Tuesday promote a fairer and more balanced system, eradicating the need for the ABCC, which was installed in 2005. “The ABCC is an unaccountable organisation that discriminates against construction workers,” Lawrence said.“It is fundamental that all workers should have the same rights under this system and there can be no place for the ABCC in it.”“It is now time for the rest of the unfair and discredited laws from the failed Howard-Costello experiment on industrial relations, including the ABCC, to be swept away,” he said.However, earlier this week the Western Australian government said it would install a “special workplace surveillance team” to replace the ABCC if the federal government pulls the ABCC’s powers.WA Commerce Minister Troy Buswell said the ABCC had successfully curbed thuggery and maverick union behaviour on Australian construction sites.“I am extremely concerned that the commission’s days are numbered under federal Labor, which has been under pressure from its union mates to pull the ABCC’s teeth,” Buswell said.“If that proves to be the case, our government will not stand by and allow unions to return to ruling the industry in this state.”“If we see any sign of the ABCC being turned into a tame-cat compliance unit within a government department then we will act to bring back a version of the Building Industry Task Force [a WA body introduced by Richard Court] in WA.”According to the Guardian, the Labor government will keep the ABCC until 2010, when its powers will be transferred to a division of the new Fair Work Australia.The transfer may lead to the removal of some of the ABCC’s more extreme powers, the Guardian reported. But union members are not satisfied and are seeking an immediate dismissal of the ABCC, putting forward a resolution to building and construction workers around the nation calling for the body’s abolishment.

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