Boss of failed building giant Privium is Hillsong leader

Rob Harder, the man behind what is shaping up to be one of the biggest building industry failures in Queensland, is a senior member and donor to the evangelical church Hillsong.

Rob Harder, the chief executive of the company that could end up being one of the biggest building sector failures in Queensland, is a senior member and donor to the evangelical church Hillsong.

Brisbane-based Privium Group, which Harder helped found in 2002, has collapsed leaving hundreds of unfinished houses around the country and estimated debts in excess of $28 million.

Privium Group CEO Rob Harder.

While Privium’s angry clients and subbies are now demanding answers from the company, it has emerged Harder is a longstanding congregant of Hillsong, a megachurch based in Brisbane’s Bible Belt southern suburb of Mt Gravatt.

Harder also is a member of Hillsong’s Kingdom Builders, who are financial leaders within the church and make an annual commitment to contribute each year to its charity wing, the Hillsong Foundation.

In a video posted on YouTube in March, Harder can be heard extolling the virtues of Kingdom Builders and church leader Brian Houston.

Harder is heard on the video explaining that the Covid-19 pandemic had hit the building industry hard and his company had laid off staff.

Talking to other members of Hillsong in the video, he says his involvement in Kingdom Builders “had stretched me into all that God’s got for me”.

The headquarters of Privium Group, which collapsed estimated debts in excess of $28 million. Picture: Adam Head

Harder does not specify whether his donations were made by the company or by him personally and he did not respond to a request for comment.

Three years ago, Harder set up his own charity called Joii, which provides skilled labour to Privium and runs a home lending arm Joii Home Loans.

Joii, which is now run by his Harder’s younger brother Peter Harder, says it is not connected or linked to Privium but does provide labour services to the company.

“They are a client,” Peter Harder says.

Rob Harder is a longstanding member of the megachurch Hillsong. Picture: Bianca De Marchi

However, Joii Home Loans lists Privium as one of its partners on its website while Rob Harder is listed as the sole director of Joii Capital, which holds an Australian credit licence. Joii is also a shareholder in Privium, according to publicly available ASIC documents. In a business plan prepared in 2019, Joii said it used a so-called “shared equity” model to finance people into their homes using tax exemptions available to charities including payroll exemptions and GST concessions.

Joii also had links with Hillsong’s counselling service based at its Mt Gravatt campus, the business plan said.

Rob Harder started life on the tools as a builder’s labourer and carpenter.

Joii’s Peter Harder said the ASIC filings showing links between the charity and Privium were out of date.

Joii last financial year had a retained surplus of $4.8 million and generated net cash from its operations of $2.6 million.

Neither Rob Harder or Hillsong Queensland pastor Steve Dixon responded to a request for comment.

Know more? Email Glen Norris