Attorney-General Christian Porter will examine the capacity of workplace regulators to enforce his promised new wage theft laws, as unions and academics warn they will be ineffective without a strong body to prosecute employers.

Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMMEU) secretary Dave Noonan on Friday said introducing stricter penalties for wage theft would mean nothing if the new laws were not adequately enforced.

CFMMEU secretary Dave Noon says the Morrison government has a poor record of policing building industry employers. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

He said the Morrison government had a poor record of policing building industry employers, citing the Australian Building and Construction Commission's (ABCC) own data that showed it recovered only a tiny fraction of the estimated $320 million a year in unpaid construction worker wages.

In a submission to Mr Porter earlier this month, Stephen Clibborn from the University of Sydney's Business School argued the Fair Work Ombudsman was not adequately funded to be "the primary enforcer" of workplace laws.