Master Builders Australia has proposed a new character test as a
precondition for assuming management or control of an employee or employer association,
says CEO Wilhelm Harnisch.
In response to the Royal Commission’s Issues Paper, Duties of Union
Officials, Master Builders said stricter rules will ensure better governance of
registered industrial organisations.
According to Wilhelm Harnisch, people with management and control of
registered organisations would need to prove before being appointed that they
have not been convicted of certain criminal and civil offenses. The new test
would strengthen the existing fit and proper person test for purposes such as
right of entry and help eliminate the practice of union officials gaining entry
to construction sites on spurious safety grounds.
He added that the test would provide members of registered organisations
and the community with more confidence in the suitability of officials heading industrial
organisations and their ability to discharge their duties responsibly.
