Federal parliament has resumed for 2016 in what is expected to be a heated election year.
The government's push to change industrial relations laws in the wake of the trade union Royal Commission has emerged as dominant on the first sitting day.
Sunil Awasthi reports.
After receiving the final report of the Royal Commission into Trade Union Corruption, the federal government moved to introduce legislation to parliament to re-instate the Australian Building and Construction Commission.
It has offered to brief one Labor and Greens MP on a confidential volume of the report, it says, to prove the necessity of the regulatory body created under coalition Prime Minister John Howard and later abolished by Labor.
Both parties have rejected the terms of the proposal, but Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull flagged a double dissolution election may be on the horizon if the legislation fails.
Greens MP Adam Bandt says the government needs to act with more transparency.
"If the government thinks this is so important, then let all members of parliament and all senators see this document, debate it, and discuss it. Transparency is to this government what sunlight is to a vampire."
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten says the government is attempting to manipulate access to the Royal Commission's report for political gains.
"The Royal Commissioner himself said these confidential volumes should be just that- they should be confidential. But the government, playing politics, has said some people can see it and others can't. You know, really, the government should start thinking about what does it want in Australia's workplaces. How does it build co-operative relations? We're up for any serious reforms, but the government...It's been a circus in terms of the way it's played this."
In introducing the legislation in the House of Representatives, the Leader of the House Christopher Pyne insisted it was necessary for reasons of both industry protection and productivity.
"This bill re-establishes the Australian Building and Construction Commission, a genuinely strong watchdog that will maintain the rule of law to protect workers and constructors, and improve productivity on building sites and construction projects, whether on-shore or off-shore."
In parliamentary Question Time, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the opposition must recognise the need for a construction industry body.
"This is a critical test of the leadership of the leader of the opposition. All of the evidence that came out in the (Judge Dyson) Heydon Royal Commission demonstrated, incontrovertibly, that there is a massive, cultural, endemic problem in the construction industry. In the construction sector, we need an independent regulator."
With Labor and the Greens opposed to the legislation, the government needs the support of six of the eight crossbench Senators to get the bills through.
Only two of those Senators -- Family First's Bob Day and Liberal Democrat David Leyonhjelm -- have said they'll support the legislation so far.
The other six -- including Nick Xenophon, Jacqui Lambie, and Glenn Lazarus -- are believed to still be considering their positions.
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