An expired certificate that halted a traffic management firm's work on the light rail site in the middle of the job was unfortunate but the system is still important for protecting workers, Chief Minister Andrew Barr says.
The interruption has renewed the political fight over the Secure Local Jobs Code, which the opposition wants scrapped.
Work was disrupted on the $577 million light rail extension construction site last week when the Secure Local Jobs Code certificate held by Altus Traffic Pty Ltd was found to have expired, meaning it could not keep working on the project.
The Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU) said it had immediately raised the issue with Infrastructure Canberra after learning the interstate traffic management firm did not hold a current certificate under the government procurement code.
More than 80 per cent of works on the site had been interrupted, the union said on Friday. Infrastructure Canberra said it had been advised the sub-contractor was seeking a new certificate.
Mr Barr said the Secure Local Jobs Code advisory council was convened last week and the minister had commissioned a review.
"The fundamentals of that code are that employers do the right thing and pay people superannuation wages and keep safe work sites. I think it's an important principle. Probably only the Liberal Party oppose that," Mr Barr said.
Mr Barr said there was always someone who would whip up the politics over the code.
"It's Mark Parton's job when he's not bored. That's what he does," he said.
Mr Parton, the leader of the Canberra Liberals, said the code gave some players a front-row seat in procurement processes who should not necessarily be part of the process.
Canberrans should look to the discovery Queensland's Best Practice Industry Conditions scheme, which set standards for industrial relations on state government-funded projects before being scrapped, would increase projects costs by up to 25 per cent, Mr Parton said.
"When you look at how far in debt we are when you look at the disastrous fiscal situation in the ACT, I think all taxpayers should be asking whether we can afford to do this and the answer is we can't," he told ABC radio on Monday.
Unlike the Secure Local Jobs Code scheme, the Queensland system set project-specific industrial relations and enterprise agreement conditions, including wages.
The CFMEU's ACT assistant branch secretary, Michael Hiscox, said the code was fundamentally about ensuring companies that benefited from public money paid and treated their workers properly.
"That's what it is at its core and just to go back in history, a little bit part of the reason we called for this code in the first place was because on stage one of light rail we saw workers on that project underpaid to the tune of seven hundred thousand dollars," Mr Hiscox told ABC radio on Monday.
Master Builders ACT chief executive Anna Neelagama said firms were already required by law to pay staff on time and treat them well, meaning the code was another layer of paperwork and compliance that favoured bigger and interstate companies.
"It's stopped a multibillion-dollar project on the weekend so it's costing us money ... It's something that in particular disadvantages small and family businesses here in the ACT," Ms Neelagama told ABC radio.
"Just because you hold a code certificate it doesn't mean that you are more likely to win government work, so you're constantly undergoing this compliance form filling, etc, with no guarantee that in fact you'll be successful winning the work."
Mr Barr said it was unfortunate the sub-contractors' certificate had expired and it might be an administrative improvement to ensure certificates, which act as a a pre-approval to work on government projects, run for the length of projects.
"Canberra Metro, as the head contractor, is managing that using, I understand, alternate traffic management arrangements in the near term. Work is continuing on the site, I understand, it is progressing very well. We've had a pretty good run of weather over the winter," he said.
Companies applying for or renewing their Secure Local Jobs Code certificates must submit a completed audit along with their application to the code's registrar, who issues certificates within five business days of receiving valid applications.
Certificates are issued to firms under the code that can demonstrate they "meet industrial relations, fair treatment of workers, work health and safety and diversity and inclusion standards", the government says.
