1 week Ago By Laine Clark
A "sweetheart deal" for the CFMEU has been suspended in an unprecedented crackdown after the embattled union was blamed for major project cost blowouts. Login or signup to continue reading Construction union "perks" were put on ice as the Queensland government stepped up a campaign to tackle the CFMEU, with some union members clearly not happy. Two men wearing CFMEU shirts were confronted by security before being escorted out by police after they tried to heckle a function attended by the deputy premier on Thursday.
The men walked in and yelled a question at a panel discussion at a Queensland Major Contractors Association event in Brisbane, refusing security requests to leave. Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie later addressed the function, announcing Best Practice Industry Conditions (BPICs) would be paused on new government-funded construction projects, taking aim at the CFMEU. "The Liberal National government .
.. is temporarily suspending the CFMEU sweetheart deal known as BPIC," he later told reporters.
They will be paused until a re-established Queensland Productivity Commission completes a review of the state building industry. Mr Bleijie said treasury modelling estimated Best Practice Industry Conditions would have cost Queenslanders more than $17 billion over the next six years. He said 22,000 fewer homes would have been constructed and rent driven up another seven per cent between 2024-25 and 2029-30 under Best Practice Industry Conditions.
The LNP government's decision did not impact workplace health and safety principles or a commitment to apprenticeships and traineeships, he said. "Workers deserve and will be paid well. Workers deserve safe workplaces but productivity must return to construction sites," the deputy premier told the function.
The Best Practice Industry Conditions policy outlines construction union workers' pay and conditions for all major state projects. The policy led to lower productivity and increased project costs by up to 30 per cent, according to independent economic analysis, Queensland Major Contractors Association CEO Andrew Chapman said. In one policy condition he cited, workers can stop work if a site reaches 29C and/or 75 per cent humidity.
The LNP government has had the CFMEU in its sights since winning the October 26 election, fingering the union over major blowouts it claimed to have discovered since being sworn in. It vowed to "stop the rot", citing blowouts of $494 million for the Cross River Rail and another $330 million for a Gold Coast light rail stage it claimed to have unearthed. In August, the construction arm of the embattled union was placed into administration following allegations of criminal conduct and organised crime links on job sites.
The Fair Work Ombudsman is conducting more than 40 investigations into the building and construction industry involving most CFMEU branches across Australia, as well as its officials and employers. CFMEU administrator Mark Irving KC has tasked independent advisory firm KordaMentha to probe the Queensland branch with preliminary findings due on December 3 and a full report by March 31. The LNP government said it would "fully participate" with the financial audit on the back of other actions regarding the CFMEU this week.
The LNP has removed the ability for CFMEU to call directly into the Office of Industrial Relations to lodge complaints. Mr Bleijie confirmed Queensland CFMEU official Kurt Paul had been removed from the government's Work Health Safety Board and Industrial Safety Committees. Australian Associated Press DAILY Today's top stories curated by our news team.
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