Rigged selection processes will put businesses over a barrel
Media Release: 12 June 2026
Up to 99 per cent of Australian employing businesses would be sidelined from winning government contracts and grants under a rigged selection process proposed by the federal government.
The Workplace Relations Legislation Amendment (Building Cooperative Workplaces No. 1) Bill 2026 introduced into Parliament last week would allow the government to discriminate against businesses that don’t have union-endorsed employment arrangements, in a measure designed to drive them into doing so.
“The legislation not only allows the government to discriminate, it actively encourages discrimination to achieve the aim of more union agreements,” Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) Chief of Policy and Advocacy David Alexander says.
Out of approximately 994,000 total employing businesses in Australia, about 982,500 do not have enterprise agreements. Under this legislation, every one of these businesses would be subject to discrimination in any procurement or grant assessment process because they don’t have a union EBA.
The lion’s share of the federal government’s $105 billion procurement budget could be legally funnelled into union-friendly arrangements, Mr Alexander says.
“This is an extraordinary attempt to rig the selection process for deciding government procurement contracts and Commonwealth grants,” Mr Alexander said.
“The threat to withhold government contracts and grants from businesses that don’t make agreements with trade unions would transfer colossal power to union bosses, who know they’ll have businesses over a barrel.
“Many businesses who choose not to deal with unions will be driven to do so out of a legitimate fear of losing contracts.
“This policy seeks to legitimise the worst practices of the CFMEU, including rampant procurement-rigging and massive project cost blowouts, like we’ve seen in Victoria and Queensland.”
Mr Alexander said introducing a rigged selection process would structurally favour inefficient union-friendly arrangements, which are commonly one-size-fits-all pattern agreements with inflexible conditions.
The Commonwealth provides grants worth between approximately $15 billion to $25 billion every year, a significant amount of which goes to employing businesses.
These grants include industry assistance grants, business support programs, regional development funding, innovation or R&D grants, training and workforce grants, and transition or resilience packages.
“Businesses looking to receive government grants will now feel compelled to sign agreements with dodgy union bosses because doing otherwise will be counted against them,” Mr Alexander said.