A ex-licensing boss at the QBCC alleges the board routinely interferes in oversight issues

A former senior figure at Queensland’s dysfunctional building regulator has torn strips off the agency as another top employee heads for the exits.

Former QBCC licensing services manager Graham Easterby. Picture: Blainey Woodham

Yet another senior figure has quit Queensland’s dysfunctional building industry regulator.

Troy Williams, a certifications manager, resigned on Thursday and will be out the door in two weeks.

He’s now one of almost 30 top players to depart the Queensland Building and Construction Commission over the past 12-18 months.

The exodus has included Commissioner Brett Bassett, as well as a deputy commissioner, three assistant commissioners and 10 directors.

Many of them are afraid to speak out on the record about the internal problems at the agency, including pressures coming from the union-dominated board to act (or not act) against various parties.

Plenty want to talk, yet feel gagged by section 110 of the QBCC Act, which covers “confidentiality of information’’.

Graham Easterby

But City Beat has obtained a scathing “separation survey’’ written by Graham Easterby, the licensing services manager who bailed out in late July after more than three years in the key role.

“I have resigned because I have lost faith in the senior management of the QBCC and the inappropriate influence/directions given to carry out my role as issued through the senior management from board members, including on how to regulate safety matters, and the granting of licenses,’’ he said.

“I do not believe the senior management of the QBCC are suitably equipped to lead or manage the organisation.’’

Easterby, a former Australian Federal Police officer, filled out the form on his last day in the job and it’s understood he has received no response to his harsh criticisms.

Asked what, if anything, he would change about his job or the organisation, he didn’t mince words. “To change the current senior leadership and to change the board,’’ he wrote.

Easterby said he “would not recommend any person to work for the QBCC’’ and he warned potential employees that “it is highly probable that if they, in their work before QBCC engagement, held a board member or industry association to account, they will have their employment unjustly terminated’’.

He maintained that a “fear-based decision making culture’’ has taken root and resources are squandered on “distraction projects’’.

Perhaps his most damning allegation is that the board has been compromised by conflicts of interest and brought undue pressure to bear on staff.

“There has been conflicts of interest from board members for personal gain, requiring my team and I to do licensing action against their competitors…and on occasions request my staff to make decisions to exercise powers that do not exist under the Act,’’ he said.

Other sources have backed up these claims, alleging the board has exerted pressure on employees to go after building companies without enterprise bargaining agreements and sought unusual amounts of detail on firms facing health or safety issues.

The toxic environment has created a culture of fear, one former senior figure told us. “The staff are very afraid. People are always looking over their shoulder,’’ he said.

So how can this hot mess get fixed? “There needs to be a public inquiry. This is where this needs to go,’’ one former insider said.

A QBCC spin doctor said Friday that Easterby’s stinging claims “have been referred for appropriate consideration’’ but denied there was any wrongdoing.

He said the board “does not consider operational matters, and both the board and QBCC staff are subject to robust conflict of interest policies.’’