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

Ms ALDRED (Monash—Opposition Whip) (12:42): In my remarks—and I don't intend to take my full allocated time—I want to concentrate on a couple of key areas, particularly as a Victorian who's very concerned about the rife CFMEU corruption in my state and the impact that that is having not just on our level of debt but on our level of government integrity and on small and family operated businesses not just in Melbourne but across regional Victoria as well.

The Workplace Relations Legislation Amendment (Building Cooperative Workplaces No. 1) Bill 2026 seeks to address some necessary change, it seeks to address some unnecessary change and it seeks to implement, I think, some bad change as well. I will run through those concerns. First up, this bill is the government's response to recent backlogs and a surge in cases at the Fair Work Commission, and that is fair enough.

There are many instances, if you look through news reports, of backlogs as a result of the proliferation of generative AI tools. There is a record-high number of cases, 44,000, in recent reporting at the commission. Some of those cases are meritorious.

Some of them are not. Unfortunately, a growing number are as a result of AI technology and they are flawed or faulty applications. Deputy President Colman recently dismissed a claim.

It was the fifth claim in two years by this applicant. The deputy president found that it was faulty and it was flawed and made some remarks about the impact of AI in building some of these applications. There's been some commentary around the fact that there's an $89.70 fee to lodge a complaint.

In 40 per cent of cases, the Fair Work Commission waives it or reduces it. It has to be said, I think, with 50,000 unfair and general protection claims anticipated for this year, the issue of AI and a very low fee should be taken into account when dealing with looking at the impact administratively and certainly in the pursuit of natural justice at the commission.

The Fair Work Commission has made some public commentary on that workload crisis. As I've said, AI assisted tools are a big part of that. The Fair Work Commission president, Justice Adam Hatcher, released a statement at the end of 2025 saying that the workload has become unsustainable and that modest levels of legislative change were needed to help.

And that is a fair point. What does this bill do? The bill has two main thematic parts to it: changes to the Fair Work Commission and changes relating to enterprise agreements in Commonwealth procurement.

That second part is where I want to address some of my concerns. The reforms, generally, are fair enough, but I do not support the enterprise bargaining procurement changes. As a number of my colleagues and the crossbench on this side of the chamber have raised, there are serious concerns around the CFMEU and its ability to infiltrate, orchestrate and manipulate enterprise bargaining arrangements and negotiations, and the way that businesses are able to fairly go about these issues.

I want to refresh people's knowledge about some of these key concerns raised about the CFMEU, some of which go back a couple of years and some a couple of days. Recently, I was most alarmed to read: Criminologists have told a Queensland inquiry the CFMEU likely used organised crime style methods to control the construction industry. I know Geoffrey Watson's report to the Queensland government Rotting from the top has been referenced a number of times in this debate, and I think it is worth mentioning for a couple of reasons.

The corruption induced by the CFMEU in Victoria has cost the taxpayer $15 billion, and that's a conservative estimation. I represent a regional area; I represent a rural community. That $15 billion could go a long way to fixing roads, schools and hospitals in my electorate.

I think, most particularly, of the West Gippsland Hospital, which the state government has promised to deliver for time after time. The money hasn't yet hit the ground in our community. Those are the services and infrastructure that that $15 billion of CFMEU linked corruption is costing Victorian taxpayers.

It is costing Victorian communities. It is costing every taxpayer right across Victoria their ability to access the frontline services and amenities that they should, quite rightly, expect. I've paid a lot of attention to the illegal tobacco market in recent times.

You don't need to scroll very far down in the report by Geoffrey Watson to read the dot point on the link between the CFMEU and the illegal tobacco trade in Australia. That is deeply alarming. The proceeds of this are going to organised crime and bikie gangs, as in the case of the firebombing of the Melbourne synagogue linked to Kazem Hamad.

These are very bad, dangerous activities. The fear is that that is now spreading out into the illegal alcohol industry as well. Anecdotally, there is some CFMEU linked influence over that as well.

I have deep concerns when looking at this bill—and the way that it constructs amendments around negotiations for enterprise agreements and procurement—that the CFMEU can get its hands all over this as well. I think taxpayers deserve better. I think our community deserves far better.

That is why I stand in this place very strongly against what this bill seeks to do in relation to that. I will conclude my remarks early, and I thank the House.