The Office of the Australian Building and Construction Commissioner (ABCC) was created by the right wing Howard Government in 2005 to ’criminalize’ otherwise legal union-related activity on construction sites.

The agency was inspired by employers in the Australian construction industry and modeled after anti-terror laws passed by the Howard Government in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

The Office of the Australian Building and Construction Commissioner (ABCC) was created by the right wing Howard Government in 2005 to ’criminalize’ otherwise legal union-related activity on construction sites.

The agency was inspired by employers in the Australian construction industry and modeled after anti-terror laws passed by the Howard Government in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

While it is tasked to regulate the construction industry, the ABCC conspicuously fails to investigate or prosecute employers underpaying workers or breaching safety regulations.

Instead, it targets individual workers involved in expressing their universally recognized free speech rights.

Even if a worker is killed on site, the burden of proof is on his co-workers to prove they had a reasonable concern about an imminent risk to themselves to legally stop work and assess the safety situation.
Also, any member of the public may be dragged into a hearing and interrogated by the ABCC for any reason.

The ABCC has the power to seek fines against individual workers of up to $22,000 and can gag interviewees. Anyone who refuses to cooperate fully faces a potential 6 month jail term.

More than 92 construction workers have been secretly interrogated by the ABCC.

In the case of Ark Tribe, agency investigators visited his construction site after workers signed a petition asking for their safety concerns at their jobsite to be addressed. Their employer, Hindmarsh Construction, ignored them.

They called the Australian Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union, but organizers were barred from approaching the site.

Since the Federal Government was refusing to help, the Union called the state government occupational safety agency who came to the jobsite and cited Hindmarsh Construction for several health and safety violations.

That’s when investigators from the ABCC stepped in and instead of investigating the employer who put those workers in jeaporady, they instead dragged the workers into an interrogation room and questioned them about who said what to get the local government to cite their employer.

Several workers spoke, but Ark Tribe refused.

And now he faces a six month jail sentence and $22,000 fine for expressing his rights.

Prior to the 2007 election, the Rudd Labor Government promised to keep the ABCC in place until 2010.

It is time to end this Orwellian agency and the nightmare it has created for workers like Ark Tribe, who is facing a 6 month jail sentence for expressing his right to free speech.

Help us by signing a Twitter petition to Australian Prime Minsiter Kevin Rudd who campaigned on a promise to gut this agency by 2010.

Tell Prime Minister Rudd to free Ark Tribe and end this Orwellian nightmare.

Visit http://www.constructingfear.com.au/ for more information about the Australian Building and Construction Commission.