❓ Minister Kobelke accuses the Opposition of spreading misinformation about the Labour Relations Reform Bill, specifically regarding a report on construction costs and unionisation, alleging dishonest tactics to undermine business confidence.
AnsweredQoN 872Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
In seeking to misrepresent the Government’s Labour Relations Reform Bill, has the Opposition based its assertions on any factual reports? Mr KOBELKE
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for the question. It is the Government’s view that the Labour Relations Reform Bill will serve the interests of both employers and employees. However, I am very concerned that sectors of industry are being scared by misinformation being spread by the Western Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and members of the Opposition. When people make quite false and misleading statements, clearly there is an issue of whether industry will make decisions and judgments based on that false information. The member for Kingsley, as the shadow minister for labour relations, issued a statement on 26 March that in part reports her as saying - “Here we have a report estimating that costs will increase by 30 per cent if building sites are unionised and a Government that isn’t even aware of it . . . The report to which she alluded does not say that costs will increase by 30 per cent due to union involvement. Page 22 of the report states that costs could be 21.7 per cent higher. I do not know where the figure of 30 per cent came from, but clearly it is an example of someone being misleading. What was the report about? The suggestion was that it was about unionisation. The first paragraph of the report’s conclusion on page 27 states - The results of the survey have revealed that construction costs on Multi-Unit developments are higher than construction costs on single unit developments. There is no mention of unionisation in the survey. Union membership as a cost was a factor. However, it was one of six different factors that were outlined that contribute to higher costs of constructing multi-unit developments as opposed to the costs of constructing single residential developments. Again, the member’s statement was totally misleading people by taking things and purporting them to be something they were not. The last part of the member’s statement was that the Government was not even aware of it. That suggests that a report relating to unionisation and cost structures in the building industry was available which we did not think was important enough to bring to light. The report about which the member was talking is titled “Single Unit and Medium Density Housing - A Report on Comparative Construction Costs for Homeswest - The State Housing Commission”. It was prepared by Ian Borrell and Associates (WA) Pty Ltd in April 1990 and was based on a survey conducted in 1989, which was not on the cost of union labour. That was one aspect of a broader report. This is a totally dishonest Opposition that is trying to undermine confidence in the business community for its own short-term political gain. To gain some political traction, the Opposition does not care what it does to small business or businesses in the State. It is on a path of trying to wreak havoc because it suits its political advantage. It is about time the Opposition realised that this sort of misleading and false information does it no good, and only undermines business confidence in this State.
Mr KOBELKE replied: I thank the member for the question. It is the Government’s view that the Labour Relations Reform Bill will serve the interests of both employers and employees. However, I am very concerned that sectors of industry are being scared by misinformation being spread by the Western Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and members of the Opposition. When people make quite false and misleading statements, clearly there is an issue of whether industry will make decisions and judgments based on that false information. The member for Kingsley, as the shadow minister for labour relations, issued a statement on 26 March that in part reports her as saying - “Here we have a report estimating that costs will increase by 30 per cent if building sites are unionised and a Government that isn’t even aware of it . . . The report to which she alluded does not say that costs will increase by 30 per cent due to union involvement. Page 22 of the report states that costs could be 21.7 per cent higher. I do not know where the figure of 30 per cent came from, but clearly it is an example of someone being misleading. What was the report about? The suggestion was that it was about unionisation. The first paragraph of the report’s conclusion on page 27 states - The results of the survey have revealed that construction costs on Multi-Unit developments are higher than construction costs on single unit developments. There is no mention of unionisation in the survey. Union membership as a cost was a factor. However, it was one of six different factors that were outlined that contribute to higher costs of constructing multi-unit developments as opposed to the costs of constructing single residential developments. Again, the member’s statement was totally misleading people by taking things and purporting them to be something they were not. The last part of the member’s statement was that the Government was not even aware of it. That suggests that a report relating to unionisation and cost structures in the building industry was available which we did not think was important enough to bring to light. The report about which the member was talking is titled “Single Unit and Medium Density Housing - A Report on Comparative Construction Costs for Homeswest - The State Housing Commission”. It was prepared by Ian Borrell and Associates (WA) Pty Ltd in April 1990 and was based on a survey conducted in 1989, which was not on the cost of union labour. That was one aspect of a broader report. This is a totally dishonest Opposition that is trying to undermine confidence in the business community for its own short-term political gain. To gain some political traction, the Opposition does not care what it does to small business or businesses in the State. It is on a path of trying to wreak havoc because it suits its political advantage. It is about time the Opposition realised that this sort of misleading and false information does it no good, and only undermines business confidence in this State.
I thank the member for the question. It is the Government’s view that the Labour Relations Reform Bill will serve the interests of both employers and employees. However, I am very concerned that sectors of industry are being scared by misinformation being spread by the Western Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and members of the Opposition. When people make quite false and misleading statements, clearly there is an issue of whether industry will make decisions and judgments based on that false information. The member for Kingsley, as the shadow minister for labour relations, issued a statement on 26 March that in part reports her as saying - “Here we have a report estimating that costs will increase by 30 per cent if building sites are unionised and a Government that isn’t even aware of it . . . The report to which she alluded does not say that costs will increase by 30 per cent due to union involvement. Page 22 of the report states that costs could be 21.7 per cent higher. I do not know where the figure of 30 per cent came from, but clearly it is an example of someone being misleading. What was the report about? The suggestion was that it was about unionisation. The first paragraph of the report’s conclusion on page 27 states - The results of the survey have revealed that construction costs on Multi-Unit developments are higher than construction costs on single unit developments. There is no mention of unionisation in the survey. Union membership as a cost was a factor. However, it was one of six different factors that were outlined that contribute to higher costs of constructing multi-unit developments as opposed to the costs of constructing single residential developments. Again, the member’s statement was totally misleading people by taking things and purporting them to be something they were not. The last part of the member’s statement was that the Government was not even aware of it. That suggests that a report relating to unionisation and cost structures in the building industry was available which we did not think was important enough to bring to light. The report about which the member was talking is titled “Single Unit and Medium Density Housing - A Report on Comparative Construction Costs for Homeswest - The State Housing Commission”. It was prepared by Ian Borrell and Associates (WA) Pty Ltd in April 1990 and was based on a survey conducted in 1989, which was not on the cost of union labour. That was one aspect of a broader report. This is a totally dishonest Opposition that is trying to undermine confidence in the business community for its own short-term political gain. To gain some political traction, the Opposition does not care what it does to small business or businesses in the State. It is on a path of trying to wreak havoc because it suits its political advantage. It is about time the Opposition realised that this sort of misleading and false information does it no good, and only undermines business confidence in this State.
The last part of the member’s statement was that the Government was not even aware of it. That suggests that a report relating to unionisation and cost structures in the building industry was available which we did not think was important enough to bring to light. The report about which the member was talking is titled “Single Unit and Medium Density Housing - A Report on Comparative Construction Costs for Homeswest - The State Housing Commission”. It was prepared by Ian Borrell and Associates (WA) Pty Ltd in April 1990 and was based on a survey conducted in 1989, which was not on the cost of union labour. That was one aspect of a broader report. This is a totally dishonest Opposition that is trying to undermine confidence in the business community for its own short-term political gain. To gain some political traction, the Opposition does not care what it does to small business or businesses in the State. It is on a path of trying to wreak havoc because it suits its political advantage. It is about time the Opposition realised that this sort of misleading and false information does it no good, and only undermines business confidence in this State.
This is a totally dishonest Opposition that is trying to undermine confidence in the business community for its own short-term political gain. To gain some political traction, the Opposition does not care what it does to small business or businesses in the State. It is on a path of trying to wreak havoc because it suits its political advantage. It is about time the Opposition realised that this sort of misleading and false information does it no good, and only undermines business confidence in this State.
Mr KOBELKE replied: I thank the member for the question. It is the Government’s view that the Labour Relations Reform Bill will serve the interests of both employers and employees. However, I am very concerned that sectors of industry are being scared by misinformation being spread by the Western Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and members of the Opposition. When people make quite false and misleading statements, clearly there is an issue of whether industry will make decisions and judgments based on that false information. The member for Kingsley, as the shadow minister for labour relations, issued a statement on 26 March that in part reports her as saying - “Here we have a report estimating that costs will increase by 30 per cent if building sites are unionised and a Government that isn’t even aware of it . . . The report to which she alluded does not say that costs will increase by 30 per cent due to union involvement. Page 22 of the report states that costs could be 21.7 per cent higher. I do not know where the figure of 30 per cent came from, but clearly it is an example of someone being misleading. What was the report about? The suggestion was that it was about unionisation. The first paragraph of the report’s conclusion on page 27 states - The results of the survey have revealed that construction costs on Multi-Unit developments are higher than construction costs on single unit developments. There is no mention of unionisation in the survey. Union membership as a cost was a factor. However, it was one of six different factors that were outlined that contribute to higher costs of constructing multi-unit developments as opposed to the costs of constructing single residential developments. Again, the member’s statement was totally misleading people by taking things and purporting them to be something they were not. The last part of the member’s statement was that the Government was not even aware of it. That suggests that a report relating to unionisation and cost structures in the building industry was available which we did not think was important enough to bring to light. The report about which the member was talking is titled “Single Unit and Medium Density Housing - A Report on Comparative Construction Costs for Homeswest - The State Housing Commission”. It was prepared by Ian Borrell and Associates (WA) Pty Ltd in April 1990 and was based on a survey conducted in 1989, which was not on the cost of union labour. That was one aspect of a broader report. This is a totally dishonest Opposition that is trying to undermine confidence in the business community for its own short-term political gain. To gain some political traction, the Opposition does not care what it does to small business or businesses in the State. It is on a path of trying to wreak havoc because it suits its political advantage. It is about time the Opposition realised that this sort of misleading and false information does it no good, and only undermines business confidence in this State.
I thank the member for the question. It is the Government’s view that the Labour Relations Reform Bill will serve the interests of both employers and employees. However, I am very concerned that sectors of industry are being scared by misinformation being spread by the Western Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and members of the Opposition. When people make quite false and misleading statements, clearly there is an issue of whether industry will make decisions and judgments based on that false information. The member for Kingsley, as the shadow minister for labour relations, issued a statement on 26 March that in part reports her as saying - “Here we have a report estimating that costs will increase by 30 per cent if building sites are unionised and a Government that isn’t even aware of it . . . The report to which she alluded does not say that costs will increase by 30 per cent due to union involvement. Page 22 of the report states that costs could be 21.7 per cent higher. I do not know where the figure of 30 per cent came from, but clearly it is an example of someone being misleading. What was the report about? The suggestion was that it was about unionisation. The first paragraph of the report’s conclusion on page 27 states - The results of the survey have revealed that construction costs on Multi-Unit developments are higher than construction costs on single unit developments. There is no mention of unionisation in the survey. Union membership as a cost was a factor. However, it was one of six different factors that were outlined that contribute to higher costs of constructing multi-unit developments as opposed to the costs of constructing single residential developments. Again, the member’s statement was totally misleading people by taking things and purporting them to be something they were not. The last part of the member’s statement was that the Government was not even aware of it. That suggests that a report relating to unionisation and cost structures in the building industry was available which we did not think was important enough to bring to light. The report about which the member was talking is titled “Single Unit and Medium Density Housing - A Report on Comparative Construction Costs for Homeswest - The State Housing Commission”. It was prepared by Ian Borrell and Associates (WA) Pty Ltd in April 1990 and was based on a survey conducted in 1989, which was not on the cost of union labour. That was one aspect of a broader report. This is a totally dishonest Opposition that is trying to undermine confidence in the business community for its own short-term political gain. To gain some political traction, the Opposition does not care what it does to small business or businesses in the State. It is on a path of trying to wreak havoc because it suits its political advantage. It is about time the Opposition realised that this sort of misleading and false information does it no good, and only undermines business confidence in this State.
The last part of the member’s statement was that the Government was not even aware of it. That suggests that a report relating to unionisation and cost structures in the building industry was available which we did not think was important enough to bring to light. The report about which the member was talking is titled “Single Unit and Medium Density Housing - A Report on Comparative Construction Costs for Homeswest - The State Housing Commission”. It was prepared by Ian Borrell and Associates (WA) Pty Ltd in April 1990 and was based on a survey conducted in 1989, which was not on the cost of union labour. That was one aspect of a broader report. This is a totally dishonest Opposition that is trying to undermine confidence in the business community for its own short-term political gain. To gain some political traction, the Opposition does not care what it does to small business or businesses in the State. It is on a path of trying to wreak havoc because it suits its political advantage. It is about time the Opposition realised that this sort of misleading and false information does it no good, and only undermines business confidence in this State.
This is a totally dishonest Opposition that is trying to undermine confidence in the business community for its own short-term political gain. To gain some political traction, the Opposition does not care what it does to small business or businesses in the State. It is on a path of trying to wreak havoc because it suits its political advantage. It is about time the Opposition realised that this sort of misleading and false information does it no good, and only undermines business confidence in this State.
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