Australian Building and Construction Commission

The Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) was an independent, statutory authority of the Australian Government, responsible for promoting understanding and enforcing workplace relations compliance in the Australian building and construction industry.^[2] The ABCC was established under the Building and Construction Industry (Improving Productivity) Act 2016 (Cth) (BCIIP Act).^[3]

The ABCC existed in a different form as the Office of the Australian Building and Construction Commissioner between 2005 and 2012, and was replaced by Fair Work Building and Construction (FWBC) between 2012 and 2016. In 2015 the Abbott government attempted to reinstate the ABCC, but the legislation failed to pass the two houses of Parliament. A further attempt to pass the legislation was unsuccessfully made by the Turnbull government in March 2016. After the two failed attempts to reintroduce the ABCC, in December 2016 Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called the double dissolution 2016 federal election. Following the election, the re-elected Turnbull government was successful in reinstating the ABCC with the vote of Senators Pauline Hanson's One Nation, Nick Xenophon Team and Derryn Hinch.

The Albanese Government transferred the responsibilities of the ABCC that it intended to continue to the Fair Work Ombudsman in November 2022, and passed legislation to formally abolish the ABCC in December 2022. The ABCC, stripped of any continuing function, was gradually wound down ahead of its official abolition on 6 February 2023.^[4][5]