David Crisafulli defends CFMEU inquiry boss's LNP links amid bias claims
Concerns about the impartiality of the Victorian barrister have been raised in the days since he was announced as the commissioner of the newly formed inquiry, which has been tasked with investigating the culture of violence and intimidation within the union's Queensland division, and uncovering any potential links to criminal underworld or activity.
Mr Crisafulli said critics of the Mr Wood's appointment were Labor-aligned and motivated by desire to discredit the inquiry.
'He is incredibly well regarded,' Mr Crisafulli said.
'Is there anyone who has found that he is not one of the most pre-eminent KCs (Kings Counsels) involved in industrial relations?
'We chose someone because of his reputation in the IR space, and that reputation has been well and truly endorsed by anyone who has looked at it, who don't have links to the Labor Party.
'I'm sorry, I want to change the culture on building sites so that people can feel safe, productivity can return.'
Mr Wood is a well-known conservative who was once a member of the Victorian Liberal Party. Records from the Electoral Commission of Queensland show Mr Wood donated $1500 to the LNP in 2023.
Mr Crisafulli refused to say whether Mr Wood had a personal relationship with his deputy, Jarrod Bleijie.
When Mr Bleijie announced last Friday that the barrister would lead the 12-month inquiry, he reiterated that Mr Wood would be bound by law to conduct the probe 'independently, impartially and fairly'.
Queensland Attorney-General Deb Frecklington would not say whether she was aware of Mr Wood's previous political ties upon making the appointment, and fell short of saying whether a fulsome recruitment process had been undertaken or if he had been headhunted for the position.
Ms Frecklington said there was 'nothing wrong' with his former membership status.
'People are members of all parties, from time to time,' she said.
'There is nothing wrong with Mr Wood being a former member of the Liberal Party of another state altogether.'
Queensland Council of Unions general secretary Jacqueline King said Mr Wood's appoint seemed to lack due process. CFMEU inquiry boss an LNP donor
Mackenzie Scott is a property and general news reporter based in Brisbane. Prior to joining The Australian in 2018, she was the editorial coordinator at NewsMediaWorks, covering media and publishing, and editor at travel and lifestyle website Xplore Sydney. Politics
Business leader Warwick Smith has warned Anthony Albanese to hasten slowly with any reforms agreed upon at the upcoming economic roundtable, amid warring unions and corporate groups. Politics
The owners of some of Australia's biggest transport companies say Labor should drop its unrealised capital gains tax plan, with some considering liquidating part of their self-managed super funds.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ABC News
an hour ago
- ABC News
Wurundjeri elder Aunty Joy to attend Melbourne Storm NRL match despite ongoing issues with board
Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung elder Aunty Joy Murphy Wandin has said she will attend Thursday night's Melbourne Storm home game despite ongoing concerns with the club's board. The Storm announced this week that an Acknowledgement of Country would be held prior to their match with the Brisbane Broncos, marking the NRL's Indigenous Round. The club also apologised to Aunty Joy for the cancellation of a Welcome to Country before to the Storm's Anzac Day match, where the Wurundjeri elder had been at the stadium to perform. Ahead of Thursday's match, Aunty Joy said she would attend in support of players, staff and community, despite a resolution not being reached with the club's board after Anzac Day. "This is about the board, not the game. This is about setting a standard not just for Melbourne Storm but across all sporting codes," Aunty Joy said. "I will always stand strong beside community and as a leader take responsibility to care for those who hurt badly." Melbourne said at the time that the club's "board had not approved for it to be held on Anzac Day". The cancellation came hours after Bunurong and Gunditjmara man Uncle Mark Brown was booed and heckled by members of the crowd at the dawn service at Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance. The Storm said its decision was not related to the booing earlier in the day, but Aunty Joy said she was told it was. Aunty Joy said Wurundjeri people wanted to continue their association with the Melbourne Storm, but highlighted they "cannot safely undertake formal ceremonies" due to one board member's reported links with lobby group Advance Australia. "I carry a deep responsibility to community and will not compromise my integrity as a proud Aboriginal woman and community elder," she said. "We cannot support an organisation that has associations with any group that incites racial vilification and division. "We are willing to continue to work with Melbourne Storm to address the deep community concerns but cannot endorse any official functions or cultural work until measures are put in place to ensure cultural respect and safety for all." Wurundjeri woman and Djirri Djirri dancer Ky-Ya Nicholson was due to perform at the Anzac Day game before the Welcome to Country was cancelled. In a statement, she said Djirri Djirri would not associate with the club "until there is meaningful change at board level". "Our decision to end our long-standing relationship with Melbourne Storm comes as a result of the disrespect shown towards Aunty Joy on Anzac Day, which was a lost opportunity to honour her veteran father and First Peoples servicemen and women who fought alongside Australian soldiers," Nicholson said. "We as a community feel very disrespected by the actions of Melbourne Storm's board, as a Welcome to Country ceremony is a tradition of unity and goodwill. Which has been completely disregarded, this shows their tokenistic approach and lack of understanding to this symbol of unity."
ABC News
an hour ago
- ABC News
CSIRO could be facing hundreds more job cuts this year, union warns
There are fears hundreds more Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) jobs could be axed this year, the union has warned. The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) issued a statement on Thursday morning saying that Australia's national science agency was enduring its "biggest job cuts in a decade". Last year, 440 positions were slashed, and the CPSU said "approximately 200 contract jobs were left to expire, with hundreds more cuts expected to be made to research units later this year". The union said it had made a submission to the Economic Reform Roundtable, warning the nation's capacity for productivity and innovation was being "actively undermined". The union is calling for the federal government to intervene to prevent further proposed cuts. CSIRO Staff Association section secretary Susan Tonks said there was a "clear disconnect between the government's talk about boosting productivity and their failure to support the very institution that helps deliver it". "But deep job cuts at the CSIRO are directly undermining Australia's ability to innovate, compete and grow. And this will continue to be the case as long as this government sits on its hands while hundreds of staff at the CSIRO are shown the door with little to no explanation. "If this government is serious about productivity, it must step in, stop the cuts, and back our country's peak science institution." The CSIRO has been contacted for comment. Ms Tonks said concern among staff was high. "If you're looking at the May budget papers and the workshops … there's workshops coming up to assess what science will be done, and what research will continue in September," she said. "And looking at all the numbers and everything that's coming up, it's looking highly likely that there will be similar numbers [to last year's cuts] coming across the research portfolio. "There's still assessments to be done, but given what we've just come out of, the anxiety and the concern and anger from staff is high." She said it was "hard to say" which areas within the CSIRO would be targeted. "But I think everything's going to be looked at," she said. "Looking at recent conversations with staff in preparation for some of those that are going to go through, there's quotes like, 'We need to be simpler as an organisation, we need to exit some areas and do fewer things better.'" She said it was "unsettling" for staff who had already been through recent changes, and warned some might not remain at the CSIRO if uncertainty lingered. "It's worth noting, public investment in research and development is what delivers innovation, it increases productivity," Ms Tonks said. "The CSIRO's been behind some of the most important scientific innovations that we've had in Australia. "We need to make sure that we back it."
News.com.au
2 hours ago
- News.com.au
‘Fake seizure guy': Exposing decades-long Melbourne scammer
A Victorian man dubbed 'fake seizure guy' has gained notoriety for allegedly faking seizures in public to get strangers to sit on him. Dozens of locals have reported being lured into restraining him, as he pretends to convulse on the ground, only to abruptly recover and vanish moments later. The mysterious scammer, who has become somewhat of an urban legend both online and on Melbourne streets, seems to target men almost exclusively. Here, speaks to three people who claim they've fallen victim to his act. Last Monday, a man named David was walking through Princes Park in Melbourne when another man caught his eye then suddenly collapsed dramatically and began shaking. Moments later, David found himself doing something completely unexpected. He climbed on top of the man, pinned his arms behind his back as he flailed beneath him. 'At first, I thought he was having a seizure,' David tells 'He toppled over, shaking and saying, 'I need a hand'. I helped him down, and then he told me to roll him face down and hold his arms behind his back. He was really insistent, then suddenly he said, 'You need to get on top of me, Straddle me', and I did.' David, a full-grown man weighing around 85 kilos, was hesitant but trusted the man's request. 'I remember thinking, I don't know what's happening, but I'm trying to help someone in trouble.' After a few minutes of holding the man in this bizarre pose, David called over some schoolboys to help. Suddenly, the man stopped shaking, stood up, and walked off with his dog. 'It was wild,' says David. 'The whole thing was so strange.' After posting his story on TikTok, he gained 400,000 views and quickly realised this wasn't an isolated incident. Comments flooded the video from countless others who've had similar encounters – reportedly with the same man, who many have dubbed 'FSG'. One person even claimed they had an encounter with the man, believed to now be in his mid-40s, in 2003. After going down an internet rabbit hole, David discovered an entire subreddit, @fakeseizureguy, where witnesses post sightings and warnings. Eerily, one user even claimed to have seen the man in Princes Park that same morning David had the interaction with him there. In other comments, people report seeing fake seizure guy target multiple people in the same area, sometimes just minutes apart. Who is fake seizure guy? The stories all follow the same chilling script. FSG wanders into public places like parks, train stations, busy streets, and suddenly acts as if he's having a seizure. He then directs anyone willing to help him with uncanny specificity: lie him face down, pin his arms behind his back, and critically, sit on him and straddle him. According to reports, he almost always targets men, sometimes even refusing help from women. After two to four minutes, the 'seizure' ends abruptly, he stands up, collects himself, sometimes even shaking the hand of the person who helped him, and walks off as if nothing happened. Christian Hull, a popular comedian and content creator, says he also encountered the man in 2018. He had just come out of an exhibition near Queens Bridge and was standing outside on a busy street with friends. 'It was dark outside but very well lit,' Christian says. 'Out of nowhere, this gentleman appeared, and it looked like he was having a seizure. I thought, something's going on here, let's help him.' Initially, Christian tried to lie him on his side and put his jacket under his head, but the man apparently denied his efforts, instead giving Christian instructions about what to do. 'I thought it was strange he was talking while having a seizure, but I was of the opinion that he knew his body,' he says. 'So he said, 'Lie me face down, pin my hands behind my back'. I was sitting on him like a couch, but then he said, 'You need to straddle me … like a horse'.' Christian obliged, but as he began to feel uneasy about the position their bodies ended up in, the idea of calling an ambulance was floated among his friends. But after hearing this, the man asked that they not call an ambulance because he said he had 'just escaped from prison'. At this point, even more alarm bells sounded, so they contacted the police, and then the man stood up and 'bolted'. 'Later, we saw him doing the same thing 80 metres away,' Christian says. 'We yelled out to a group not to help him.' After sharing his experience online, including a photo of himself sitting on top of the man, he learnt that he had just become the latest target of fake seizure guy. Heath, another Melbourne man, said he also helped fake seizure guy while on a day out at Melbourne Zoo with his family. 'We had just parked, and I saw this man collapse onto another man. Leaving my wife and kids behind, I ran over to him. The man said, 'I have seizures all the time, can you help me restrain my arms?'' Heath recalls. 'I was basically holding him down like an arrest. I was a bit confused because his dogs just sat there, unbothered by the fact that their owner was seemingly having a seizure.' The man reportedly asked Heath to put some force into restraining him. 'He asked me to really pin him down,' he says. After a few minutes, he jumped to his feet, hugged Heath, and disappeared. For the Melbourne dad, the strangeness only sank in afterwards. 'I found out that my wife's cousin had a similar experience about 10 years ago,' he says. Why does he do this? His motives remain unclear. Some speculate that FSG might struggle with mental health issues. Others think he finds sexual gratification in being restrained beneath unsuspecting men. David says, 'At the time, I didn't think it was sexual, but looking back, having a near 90-kilo man sit on you like that. It makes you wonder'. Why hasn't he been stopped? Despite FSG's ongoing behaviour, many hesitate to report incidents to the police because of the confusing nature of his actions. Christian said he didn't file a report because, 'What can they really do, you know? I sat on a man'. However, when he did speak to the police on the night of the incident, he claims they said they were aware of the man. David also mentioned that he hadn't thought about reporting it until he shared the video and realised it was part of a wider issue. 'I wasn't traumatised by it, but I understand that it could affect others,' he says. Many also might not report because they walk away thinking they have done a good thing and helped someone. Is this what real seizures look like? A person having a seizure may display a variety of signs, including jerking movements, loss of consciousness, stiffening of the body, and confusion. There are specific types of seizures, such as simple partial seizures, where a person can sometimes speak during the event. According to the Epilepsy Foundation, if you see someone having a seizure with jerking movements, you shouldn't try to restrain them. You should also attempt to roll the person onto their side if possible. Manipulating people's good intentions Fake seizure guy has caused many who have seen his antics to rethink whether they would help a stranger again. 'People want to help, it's human nature. If someone has fallen over, I'll always go to help them. But if someone asked me to get on top of them again – there's no chance,' David says. 'It would definitely make me think twice'.
