Nigel Hadgkiss and John Lloyd appointed to building inspectorate

Former ABCC commissioner John Lloyd, pictured, has been appointed chairman of the Fair Work Building Industry Inspectorate’s advisory board and Nigel Hadgkiss was confirmed director on Thursday. Photo: James Davies

Mark Skulley and James Massola

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The Abbott government has reunited the top two chiefs from the Howard government’s construction watchdog as it seeks to take a tougher line on militant building unions.

Employment Minister Eric Abetzsaid on Thursday that Nigel Hadgkiss has been appointed director of the Fair Work Building Industry Inspectorate and John Lloyd had been appointed chairman of the inspectorate’s advisory board.

Mr Hadgkiss is the Victorian ­government’s director of construction code compliance. He was ­previously deputy commissioner of the former federal watchdog, the Australian Building and Construction Commission, and Mr Lloyd was ABCC commissioner.

Senator Abetz said the Abbott ­government was committed to ­re-establishing the ABCC and Mr Hadgkiss and Mr Lloyd would steer the Fair Work Building Industry Inspectorate during the transition.

“The previous government replaced the ABCC with the FWBII – a regulator with weaker powers.

“We must get the balance right, which is why it’s important we return to the ABCC, underpinned by provisions put in place in 2005,” Senator Abetz said. “When the ABCC existed, the performance of the building and construction sector improved.”

The appointments were welcomed by employer groups, although Master Builders Australia urged the government to move quickly to ­re-establish the ABCC and its greater powers to “enforce adherence to the rule of law and suppress industrial bastardry” on construction sites.

Suppressing industrial thuggery

MBA chief executive Wilhelm ­Harnisch said the FWBC’s reduced powers should be applied to stop the type of behaviour seen in last year’s Grocon dispute in Victoria and on the Royal Children’s Hospital in Queensland this year.

“Important matters such as investigating underpayment of employee entitlements should be referred to the Fair Work Ombudsman, thereby freeing up the FWBC to focus exclusively on suppression of industrial thuggery,” he said.

But the tenure of Mr Lloyd and Mr Hadgkiss at the ABCC were marked by fierce controversy over the use of its power to compel witnesses to attend hearings and answer questions. In 2010, a magistrate threw out a case against a worker, Ark Tribe, who had refusing to attend a hearing.

The magistrate ruled that the notice for Mr Tribe to attend the hearing was invalid because Mr Lloyd had not properly delegated his investigatory functions to Mr Hadgkiss. The same flaws were found in other notices and new checks and balances on using the power were introduced.

This month, the Federal Court found the Victorian government breached the Fair Work Act by threatening to exclude Lend Lease from bidding on a new $600 million hospital in Bendigo because it had “union friendly” clauses in its workplace agreements.

The court said the ­pressure applied to Lend Lease was “endorsed, if not directed by the highest levels of government”.

The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union argued the two appointments by the Abbott government were unbalanced, with Mr Hadgkiss having a history “steeped in bias against construction workers and their unions”.

The national secretary of the union’s construction division, Dave Noonan, said Senator Abetz needed to explain the steps he has taken to ascertain that Mr Hadgkiss played no role in the breaches of the Fair Work Act by the Victorian government.

“In relation to John Lloyd, well, it’s like putting Dracula in charge of the blood bank. We would note that Mr Lloyd has been a high-profile activist in the extremist HR Nicholls Society.”

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