Union misconduct claims to set be examined

The hearing turns its attention to investigator Geoffrey Watson SC’s Queensland work regarding CFMEU hostility towards employers.

Watson begins by tying the issue of hostilities towards the largely civil construction-focused AWU with what he describes as no longer a theory but “exactly what has happened”.

“I think the point has to be made and underlined that this is just emulating [former Victorian CFMEU secretary John] Setka’s effective campaign down in Victoria,” Watson says of what he views as a conscious campaign to push the AWU off civil construction sites.

“If you’ve only got one union covering all of these areas, they’re given far, far too much power in those negotiations … You can imagine the pressure that’s placed on scarce labour resources here.

“This is not a matter of abuse between unions. It’s a matter of economic significance to the people of Queensland. I’ll go a step further and say the people of Australia, too.

“The fact is, there are massive infrastructure projects at the moment, in South Australia. Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland.

“Somebody said to me something which I thought was taking it too far, that they felt that the Queensland branch may have been driven to do it because they feared Setka and his operatives may move into Queensland.

“Now, that sounds a little far-fetched to me, but it should be said that’s what Setka did with South Australia.”

Watson notes that the building firms represented in the Brisbane CBD were not the same as in others around the country.

“Other big-name builders can see what was happening, and they’ve been burnt in Victoria, and you’ll find a lot of them still heavily represented as major construction companies and projects on the Gold Coast … and have avoided the Brisbane CBD construction market because of it.”