CFMEU’s paws must be kept off Labor’s housing future fund

Labor has spent billions of dollars on a housing bureaucracy which has failed to build houses.

There is a major integrity problem with its signature housing bureaucracy, the Housing Australia Future Fund.

It appears Labor will allow the CFMEU controlled Cbus super fund to partner with the HAFF and even receive taxpayer funds from the organisation.

The Coalition will act to protect taxpayer funds from being pilfered by the corrupt CFMEU. Labor pretends to be concerned about the CFMEU but shows zero interest in the proposed involvement of the CFMEU in the HAFF via Cbus.

We have introduced legislation to ban Cbus from partnering with the HAFF.

This is just another Labor blind spot which means that unsurprisingly, the housing crisis is getting worse under Mr Albanese.

In the year to September 2023, only 170,000 new dwellings were constructed. Compare this with the 216,000 dwellings completed under the Coalition in 2016-17.

Fewer houses makes the housing problem much worse.

Housing supply is down which is hurting affordability for first home buyers. The ABS stated in 2020 it was 23 per cent. It has declined under Labor to 19 per cent in 2023.

We remain opposed to the HAFF initiative because we do not believe a government bureaucracy is needed to boost supply.

Supply of houses will be supported by promoting private investment and removing barnacles like the CFMEU’s 30% tax on apartments.

It is beyond strange that Labor would seek to put the CFMEU into administration but appear totally uninterested in involvement of the CFMEU in the HAFF.

As it stands, Cbus could be a participant and beneficiary of the HAFF. Cbus is the only super fund to have publicly committed funding to the HAFF. Cbus has three CFMEU officials on its board - one director has served for 16 years. This is in breach of the prudential regulators guidelines.

Cbus chair Wayne Swan said in November 2022: “Our commitment to the housing sector is part of our fund’s DNA.”

The irony of Labor seeking help from the CFMEU/Cbus cartel to fix the housing crisis that has corrupted the construction industry, is not lost on anyone.

In July this year, it was reported that a CFMEU official told a builder “he would exert his influence over Cbus in 2019 to ensure the super giant instructed the lead contractor to use subcontractors favoured by the CFMEU.”

We cannot put taxpayer funds at risk to CFMEU corruption.

Accordingly, our Bill prohibits the HAFF from making payments to Cbus or entities financed by Cbus. The prohibition applies while the CFMEU is under administration.

Putting the CFMEU into administration doesn’t finish the job. Taxpayers are still exposed. It is intolerable.

Senator Andrew Bragg is the Coalition’s home ownership spokesman