Productivity Commission floats scrapping so-called ‘CFMEU tax'
Queensland's rebooted Productivity Commission has turned in its first work for the Crisafulli government, with a report that calls for scrapping a controversial arrangement with building unions.
The interim report from its inquiry into the construction sector, released on Thursday, canvasses a range of issues, from inconsistent regulation and planning to the labour market.
It found that the industry was not keeping pace with the pipeline of work in demand – from housing to major infrastructure – which has more than doubled since December 2020.
It calculated a fall in productivity of about 9 per cent since 2018, equivalent to 77,000 homes that had not been built, which it said was more than enough to address current supply shortfalls.
How we got here
The commission and its first probe is one plank of the government's efforts against the CFMEU, including reviewing the so-called 'CFMEU tax'.
This is the pejorative term for the 'best practice industry conditions' (BPICs) brought in under Labor to set pay and conditions on state-funded projects at union-negotiated levels, positioning the government as a model client.
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