The crossbench senator is seeking to address concerns raised by union leaders which have worried Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie and One Nation leader Pauline Hanson,whose refusal to support the Ensuring Integrity Bill has hamstrung Attorney-General Christian Porter's effort to have it passed this week.
Mr Porter,who is also Industrial Relations Minister,said the bill was"vitally important"to address"repeated law-breaking"by a"minority of rogue unions,most notably the[Construction,Forestry,Maritime,Mining and Energy Union]",whose disruption added"millions of taxpayer dollars"to infrastructure costs.
CFMMEU Victorian secretary John Setka's branch and its officials have accrued more than $500,000 worth of fines this year,including $50,000 imposed by the Federal Court on Tuesday over an illegal work stoppage in 2015.
Official data shows the CFMMEU could have been deregistered many times over if the bill had been in effect since December 2016,after which the union and its officials racked up 149,500 penalty units in court-imposed fines with 398 breaches by the union and 500 breaches by its officials.
Under the demerit point plan in the amended bill,union officials could face bans if they reach 180 penalty units or if their union reached 900 penalty units - meaning an official could be banned over two or three breaches. But union leaders warn it could also catch"paperwork"errors.
Senator Hanson has saidshe will not support a "union bashing" bill and wants to ensure it does not unfairly penalise union officials,while Senator Lambie has said it will make it too easy to deregister non-militant unions and ban officials over administrative mistakes.
Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary Sally McManus said the bill could be used to pursue volunteer union officials representing teachers,nurses and firefighters through the courts over minor breaches such as failing to complete training or lodge financial documents on time.