Turnbull is bringing parliament back on 18 April to have another crack at getting legislation to restore the construction watchdog through the Senate, and if this fails for a second time, as seems likely, it will be a trigger for a 2 July poll.
The government will reintroduce legislation that sets up a construction industry watchdog, called the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC).
Last week Labor announced it would vote down legislation relating to the reestablishment of the construction industry watchdog, rather than using procedural motions to put off the vote.
"Having a strong construction industry watchdog, the ABCC, we know – this is not theory – when it was in place, until Labor abolished it, there was a significant increase in productivity," Turnbull said.
The Turnbull government has persuaded the Liberal Democratic party Senator David Leyonjhelm to support the backpackers tax at 15% after suffering an embarrassing Senate defeat on the proposal just minutes after the passage of legislation restoring the construction industry watchdog.
As Senate opposition firms to the proposed construction industry watchdog and the government refuses to countenance substantive changes proposed by the Senate crossbench, a 2 July double dissolution appears increasingly likely.
The Turnbull government is likely to call a double-dissolution election for 2 July after the Senate defied it and defeated legislation establishing a construction industry watchdog, the Australian Building and Construction Commission ABCCConstruction Commission ABCC
Turnbull said on Friday his government was still considering whether to use two bills – one proposing to beef up accountability measures for unions, the other to re-introduce the construction industry watchdog – as triggers to dismiss the House and Senate.
The 2 July poll will also be the first double-dissolution election since 1987, with all senators up for re-election because the upper house refused to pass legislation setting up a new construction industry watchdog, an issue which has already receded from the forefront of the debate.
And that just happens to be exactly what the Senate crossbench is demanding be considered before it will allow the re-establishment of the building and construction industry corruption watchdog – a goal Malcolm Turnbull says is so important that if the Senate refuses it necessitates taking the whole nation to a double-dissolution election.
