Office of the Australian Building and Construction Commissioner

The ABCC’s business of investigations and legal proceedings continued at a steady rate. At the same time the agency continued to record high numbers of site visits and presentations to assist building industry participants in understanding the laws.

Of note, activities relating to the National Code of Practice for the Building Industry have grown markedly on those recorded in 2007-08. National Code site visits nearly doubled from 597 to 1169; inspections increased from 28 to 92; and audits increased from 15 to 40. The figures also show that there has been over a 25 per cent increase in the number of construction sites subject to the National Code compared to 2007-08.

In the 12 months from 1 July 2008 to 30 June 2009:

The ABCC pursued 262 investigations into 683 suspected contraventions of relevant workplace laws. The majority of breaches investigated related to:

• unlawful industrial action – 222
• right of entry – 109
• coercion – 107

As at 30 June 2009, 68 investigations were ongoing.

The ABCC was party to:

• 48 penalty proceedings before the courts
• 21 proceedings before the AIRC

The ABCC intervened in:

• 23 AIRC proceedings
• 11 court proceedings

The ABCC conducted: 

• 1169 Code site visits
• 92 Code inspections
• 40 audits

As at 30 June 2009 it is estimated that 548 construction sites are subject to the National Code, compared to 434 at 30 June 2008.

The ABCC recorded 2360 individual enquiries – 2207 of which were responded to within a day. The majority of enquiries – 84 per cent – were resolved within three working days.

The ABCC conducted 210 presentations to approximately 4026 attendees.

Presentations were made to industry groups, associations, individual companies and other organisations in the building and construction industry.

If you would like a hard copy of the ABCC Annual Report sent to you, please send your mail details to enquiry@abcc.gov.au.