EXPLAIN TO ME: Is the election happening or not?

By political reporter Matthew Doran

It is the legislation that could potentially send the nation to the polls on July 2. But what are the Turnbull Government’s proposed industrial relations all about?

The bill

There are two key pieces of legislation the Senate needs to pass to bring back the ABCC.

The ABCC bill’s stated aims are:

“… to provide an improved workplace relations framework for building work to ensure that building work is carried out fairly, efficiently and productively for the benefit of all building industry participants and for the benefit of the Australian economy as a whole.”

The Registered Organisations bill would impose the same disclosure and transparency obligations on union officials as company directors.

The history

The ABCC came into being after the Royal Commission into the Building and Construction Industry, commonly known as the Cole Royal Commission.

Among the 212 recommendations handed down in 2003 was the establishment of the ABCC to combat what was characterised as an industry experiencing lawlessness.

The ABCC was established in October 2005, and survived until the Gillard Labor government passed legislation in February 2012 to abolish the construction watchdog.

In February 2014 the Abbott government introduced a bill to the Senate to bring back the ABCC. The bill was blocked in August 2015, defeated by just one vote.

In March 2016, the legislation was reintroduced following the findings from the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption.

The Registered Organisations legislation was also blocked in the Senate by just one vote in August 2015.

For and against

The Coalition is pushing the legislation as a key plank of its policy to crack down on corruption in the building and construction sector.

Employment Minister Michaelia Cash says the Government will negotiate in good faith with the crossbench, but will not “tolerate amendments just for amendments’ sake”.

“The building and construction industry is the third-largest employer in Australia. The sector employs in excess of 1 million Australians through the thousands of small businesses. So when you’re talking about growing Australia, increasing productivity, but at the end of the day creating more jobs for Australians, you cannot have a sector that for decades now has shown it wilfully and quite deliberately does not comply with workplace law. We are here to clean up the sector.”

— Employment Minister Michaelia Cash

Labor is vehemently opposed, because it believes the ABCC would have excessive powers.

“It denies people’s rights of representation. You could be compelled to give testimony without legal representation, you may not be able to disclose the information you’ve provided to your family or a lawyer. We think it’s excessive given that the ABCC only works in the civil jurisdiction. It’s not dealing with serious and organised crime, it’s not dealing with terrorist offences, so these type of police state powers are never used or very rarely used in this area of law, and it’s for that reason Labor for more than a decade have opposed this type of approach.”
— Labor’s employment spokesman Brendan O’Connor

The Greens also do not support the ABCC or the Registered Organisations legislation.

In relation to the ABCC, the Greens said there should not be such a body just to investigate one industry.

“Malcolm Turnbull should walk away from his plan to give construction workers fewer rights than alleged criminals, and instead establish a national, broad-based anti-corruption watchdog. When it comes to allegations of wrongdoing, if you’ve got a blue collar, this Government throws the book at you, but if you’ve got a white collar, they turn the other way. If the Government really wants to tackle corruption, they will get behind the Greens’ plan to establish a national broad-based anti-corruption watchdog.”
— Greens industrial relations spokesman Adam Bandt

Then there is the crossbench. The government needs to gain the support of six of the eight crossbenchers to pass the bills.

Only one senator has formally declared support for the ABCC bill.

Nick Xenophon (independent, SA): Senator Xenophon has previously indicated that he supports the bill, but appears to be pulling back from that position. He has also flagged that he wants to introduce some amendments.

David Leyonjhelm (Liberal Democrat, NSW): Senator Leyonjhelm had backed the legislation but then withdrew his support in retaliation for the Government’s changes to Senate voting laws. He now says he will not support the ABCC unless the Government reopens the bill for debate so he can introduce some amendments.

John Madigan (independent, Vic): The Victorian senator has been resolutely opposed to the legislation, saying that it unfairly targets trade union leaders. He is unlikely to back it.

Bob Day (Family First, SA): Bob Day says he will support the legislation as he did the last time it came back for a vote.

Dio Wang (Palmer United, WA): Senator Wang has been sympathetic to the aims of the legislation but says he wants to make amendments to instead create a national anti-corruption body similar to the New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).

Ricky Muir (Motoring Enthusiasts, Vic): Senator Muir has said he would back the second reading of the bill but would not make a final decision until the debate has been finished.

Jacqui Lambie (independent, Tas): The independent senator has been fiercely critical of the ABCC bill and is unlikely to support it.

Glenn Lazarus (independent, Qld): Senator Lazarus has withdrawn support, and would want any anti-corruption body to be expanded from the building industry.

This post originally appeared on ABC News.