22 February 2012

What the Building and Construction Commission has been up to

| johnboy
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In an eyebrow-twitching move the Australian Building and Construction Commission has sent us a media release through our contact form on what their Canberra office has been up to in the last year:

The ABCC opened the doors of its Canberra office on Tuesday 22 February 2011 to allow swift regulatory intervention and expand the ABCC’s capacity to provide advice and assistance for ACT industry participants.

ABC Commissioner Leigh Johns said the last twelve months have seen the ABCC respond to a number of sham contracting issues in the ACT.

“Two Canberra companies were penalised a total of $39,500 for engaging in sham contracting,” he said.

“The ABCC is currently calling for tenders to conduct research that will uncover the extent of sham contracting in Australia’s building and construction industry.”

In the time the Canberra office has been open, our ACT inspectors have conducted around 40 site visits within Canberra and the surrounding region, including Batemans Bay, Narooma, Bega, Wagga and Albury.
“The team has received 109 enquiries from local building industry employers and employees, and finalised 68 investigations into issues including non-payment of wages and entitlements, breaches of the Fair Work Act, and freedom of association,” said ABC Commissioner Johns.

“A total of $34,150 was recovered for 17 underpaid employees.”

ABC Commissioner Johns said he was impressed that all identified workplace relations breaches by Canberra-based construction businesses had been rectified voluntarily.

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