Workplace Relations Legislation Amendment (Building Cooperative Workplaces No. 1) Bill 2026

Dr HAINES (Indi) (11:01): I second the member for Curtin's amendment, and I have some brief remarks. Like the member for Curtin, I support many aspects of the Workplace Relations Legislation Amendment (Building Cooperative Workplaces No. 1) Bill 2026, including changes to allow the Fair Work Commission to operate more efficiently and establishing a new high-income threshold for road transport contractors.

However, this bill also amends existing antidiscrimination provisions so that the government can give preference to employers whose employees are covered by an enterprise agreement in contracts, procurements and grants of financial assistance. I'm not opposed to enterprise agreements, but this bill would effectively enable the government to force employers to make agreements with unions if they want to have any chance of getting a tender or contract.

This is ripe for misuse. It raises significant integrity and corruption concerns, especially in light of what we've seen with the CFMEU in Queensland and Victoria. In relation to grants, I'm especially worried that this would undermine the principles of open, merit-based competitive funding rounds.

Organisations who seek funding in good faith deserve to have their applications assessed on their merits alone. Public spending should be based on need, merit, effectiveness and value for money, not on other irrelevant factors. So I join the member for Curtin in calling on the government to remove these measures from this bill.