The ABCC will commission research designed to gain a fuller understanding of the extent and impact of sham contracting on Australia’s building and construction industry.
The Commission is conducting an Inquiry into sham contracting in the building and construction industry. A call for written submissions closed in March 2011 and Roundtables, attended by 146 industry representatives and expert panel, were held in Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane in March and April 2011.
‘The ABCC’s Sham Contracting Inquiry is an important initiative to gain first-hand perspectives from industry participants about the issue of sham contracting.
‘I anticipated empirical evidence on the incidence and cause of sham contracting would come out strongly through the submission process,’ ABC Commissioner Johns said.
‘Instead, submissions to the Inquiry called for reliable empirical information about the extent of sham contracting in the industry and what sectors of the industry it impacts.
‘A key theme at Roundtables and the written submissions was the need to validate any proposed regulatory responses arising from the Inquiry with sound understanding of the extent of the problem. The research the ABCC is commissioning comes in response to requests from industry participants for more statistical data,’
‘The quality of the submissions was high, but participants in the Inquiry primarily provided anecdotal information,’ ABC Commissioner Johns said.
The final report of the ABCC Sham Contracting Inquiry that was to be published by late June 2011 will now be postponed until the completion of this research.
‘It became clear that, in order to be meaningful, the Inquiry results must be based in both anecdotal and evidentiary information,’ said Mr Johns.
The national Roundtables were attended by a wide cross-section of industry representatives, including Federal and State Government, industry associations, employer bodies and contractors. Almost 90 percent of attendees at the Inquiry roundtables considered their participation in the Inquiry meaningful and were satisfied with the Inquiry process.
The cost of the Inquiry to date is $160,196.