Queensland LNP government launches inquiry into CFMEU state branch and its Labor ‘enablers'

The Guardian

8 hours ago

Queensland's Liberal National party government has invoked the inquiry that brought down decades-long conservative rule in the state as it vowed to pursue a Labor opposition that it described as the 'enabler' of violence within a union.
The premier, David Crisafulli, announced a 'landmark inquiry' into the state branch of the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU) on Sunday, which he described as the 'most powerful tool' at the government's disposal.
'Today I can announce a commission of inquiry into the stranglehold and standover tactics of the CFMEU in Queensland and the protection racket that has allowed it to occur,' the premier said.
Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email
The government said its inquiry – which the premier hoped might start in August – would have the power to demand documents, protect witnesses who feared retribution and compel those who chose not to participate in a report by the Centre for Public Integrity senior counsel Geoffrey Watson, which was released on Wednesday.
That report, titled Violence in the Queensland CFMEU, described a union that 'embraced a culture which encouraged and celebrated the use of threats of violence, intimidation, misogyny and bullying'.
Watson said he feared his investigation 'only scratched the surface of the violence in the Queensland CFMEU'.
'If the Watson report only scratched the surface, well nothing short of a full-blown commission of inquiry will provide the sunshine that is needed to repair a broken system,' the premier said.
His deputy, Jarrod Bleijie, likened the inquiry into the union to the landmark Fitzgerald inquiry that led to the downfall of longstanding conservative premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen.
That inquiry, which was established in 1987 and lasted almost two years, led to the jailing of four former state ministers and several senior police figures, including the disgraced police commissioner.
'The LNP will purge the underbelly of the CFMEU and its enablers in Queensland,' Bleijie said. 'This is Labor's Fitzgerald moment and people must be held accountable for enabling the actions of the CFMEU in the last 10 years.'
The LNP swept into power last October after nearly a decade of Labor government.
During Sunday's press conference, Bleijie named most of the senior Labor figures who remain in parliament but focused heavily on the former industrial relations minister Grace Grace, whom he described as the CFMEU's 'chief enabler'.
Sign up to Breaking News Australia
Get the most important news as it breaks
after newsletter promotion
'In 2015 the Labor party was elected back in government in Queensland and what we saw ensue over the last 10 years is nothing but a protection racket for the CFMEU orchestrated by Labor, its administration and its ministers at the time,' Bleijie said.
Grace, now the shadow industrial relations minister, labelled Bleijie's comments as 'absolutely ridiculous and completely and utterly baseless accusations' – and the government's announcement 'pure politics'.
'The Fitzgerald moment – what, taking bribes? Is he kidding? Rorting the electoral system?' Grace said, alluding to practices of the corrupt Bjelke-Petersen regime. 'For goodness sake, stop playing politics and let's get on with the business of what we need to do.'
Grace said the actions of CFMEU officials and members outlined in the Watson report 'embarrassed the union movement' and that she 'condemned them in the strongest possible terms'.
'That's why we put them into administration, together with the federal Albanese government, and these people have been sacked, and one of the recommendations [of the report] are that those that continue to operate in that manner will be sacked,' she said.
Grace said she believed the Crime and Corruption Commission​​ had the power to investigate the violence and bad actors, which she said were limited to one union and whose actions largely fell under federal legislation.
'But look, if the government of the day wants to do [a commission of inquiry], we're happy to cooperate,' Grace said. 'I've got nothing to hide. We don't want to play politics with this and we need to stop this behaviour, there is no doubt about that.'