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Turnbull: double dissolution election will be called if ABCC bill is not passed Turnbull: double-dissolution election will be called if ABCC bill not passed
(35 minutes later)
Malcolm Turnbull has recalled both houses of parliament to debate a bill to re-establish the building and construction industry watchdog, warning senators if they do not pass the bill he will call a double-dissolution election on 2 July. Malcolm Turnbull has ended months of political and policy indecision with a surprise announcement that he will call a 2 July double-dissolution election unless the Senate passes industrial laws when special constitutional provisions are used to recall it next month.
He has also moved the budget forward to 3 May. Turnbull threw down the gauntlet to the Senate crossbench declaring “the time for games is over”, saying three weeks was ample time for senators to consider and pass the bills reconstituting the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) and regulating registered organisations. The Senate is being recalled from 18 April.
Related: Malcolm Turnbull paves way for 2 July election with recall of parliament – politics liveRelated: Malcolm Turnbull paves way for 2 July election with recall of parliament – politics live
“The time for playing games is over,” Turnbull said as he announced he was recalling parliament for three weeks from 18 April. If the bills do not pass, Turnbull said a double-dissolution election would be called and fought on economic management.
“If the Senate fails to pass these laws, I will advise the governor general to dissolve both houses of parliament and issue writs for an election,” he said. If the Senate does not budge on its long-standing opposition to the bills, Turnbull’s high-risk strategy paves the way for a nine-week winter election campaign from the time of budget – which will now be delivered one week early on 3 May, and in effect for a 15-week campaign from now.
“Because such a double dissolution must be done on or before 11 May, the government will be bringing the budget forward to Tuesday 3 May, so that Mr [Bill] Shorten will be able to deliver his reply on the Thursday in the usual way. Turnbull said he had finally decided on the plan last night, and had formally informed his cabinet in a hook-up shortly before the public announcement although sources said some cabinet ministers had been told “on a need to know basis”.
“Our intention, our determination is to have the [industrial bills] passed. We are very alert to the way in which Senate procedures have been used and you saw it all last week, to frustrate the business of government and frustrate reform. Now, I make – I simply make the observation, the senators are entitled to do that, if they don’t want to pass the ABCC bills then they should resolve to reject them and then the decision will be left to the Australian people,” he said.
Turnbull said the election would be “fought on the overall economic agenda”.
“The issue in the election is who do you believe is best able to continue successfully to manage Australia’s economic transition? Who has the policies and the leadership that will ensure there is more investment, more innovation, greater productivity, and better jobs for your children and grandchildren? That is the question. Every single policy we have set out is calculated to deliver those outcomes,” he said.
But he said the industrial reforms were also essential because: “They will ensure that unions are more accountable, more transparent, managed in the same ... transparent manner that public companies should be managed.
“The construction industry is a huge part of the Australian economy. We are paying a very high price for the lawlessness and the high level of industrial disputation in that sector. Having a strong construction industry watchdog, the ABCC, we know – this is not theory – when it was in place, until Labor abolished it, there was a significant increase in productivity,” he said.
“Since it has been abolished ... the level of disputation has increased, lawlessness has got worse, productivity has not improved.”
Turnbull said the proclamation he asked the governor general, Peter Cosgrove, to make under section five of the constitution overrode the views of the majority of senators that they would not sit again until the date the budget was scheduled to be handed down.
Under an agreement with the Greens to get changes to Senate voting procedures through the Senate last week, the ABCC bill was not debated and the opposition parties had tried to engage numerous tactics to ensure it would not be debated in time for Turnbull to use it as a double-dissolution trigger – given such an election must be called by 11 May.
Turnbull said if the Senate passed the two industrial bills a normal election would be held later in the year and he would not use the other available trigger – legislation abolishing the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.
The crossbench has been in lengthy negotiations with the government over amendments to the ABCC bill – including improvements in procedural fairness – but Turnbull indicated the government had little appetite for changes.
Family First Senator Bob Day – who had previously supported the ABCC bill – said Turnbull had called him Monday morning to ask him to back the bills despite his anger at the Senate voting changes, and to help him to convince other crossbenchers to also support them.
Day said he would back them, but would not help talk around his crossbench colleagues.
Palmer United party senator Dio Wang has proposed the creation of a national anti-corruption body, similar to New South Wales’ national independent commission against corruption (Icac) and also wants greater judicial review of the extraordinary powers provided for under the ABCC bill.
The setting up of a national anti-corruption body that looks at the behaviour of politicians as well as workers in other sectors is supported by the independent senator John Madigan, too.
Related: Push to bring back ABCC building industry watchdog blocked by SenateRelated: Push to bring back ABCC building industry watchdog blocked by Senate
“If we do proceed to a double dissolution, the election will be on Saturday 2 July.” Several crossbenchers have supported the proposal to broaden the scope of the watchdog to take in sham contracting and the practice of phoenixing – where companies declare bankruptcy to avoid paying debts before starting a new business under a different name.
The Senate on Friday passed a motion making it harder for the government to recall the upper house but the directive from the governor general, Sir Peter Cosgrove, overrides the motion. The government is reportedly considering a proposal put forward by the Liberal Democrat senator, David Leyonhjelm, to include a sunset clause on the building industry watchdog, meaning the ABCC would expire eight years after its establishment.
The independent senator Nick Xenophon has not yet formally submitted his amendments, but he wants stronger protections for union whistleblowers included in the legislation.