Australia is in a housing crisis. The nation is on track to build just 160,000 houses this year - the same as in 1989 when our population was 16.9 million.
The housing crisis has been massively fuelled by unsustainable rises in the cost of building. The CFMEU has been at the epicentre of an explosion of labour costs - particularly for apartments.
In some cases, Australians are paying a 30% CFMEU tax when buying a new apartment.
The Labor Government famously turned a blind eye to CFMEU corruption and now it seeks to turn a blind eye to intransigence and weakness by the super regulator APRA.
In an extraordinary statement, APRA has greenlit $3.9 million in payments to the CFMEU from the super funds.
These payments are supposed to be illegal, as they clearly contravene the Best Financial Interests Duty.
How can a regulator approve payments to a crooked union which has been placed in administration by the Parliament?
The Parliament has taken action by placing the CFMEU into administration, but APRA says it’s a good idea to give this union more of the people’s money.
The Labor Government should remind APRA of its duty to enforce the law. If APRA cannot course correct, the Commissioners should consider if they are capable of fulfilling their statutory obligations.
We will probe these extraordinary statements at Senate Estimates next week.