Former QBCC execs hit back at claims they were to blame for failing to suspend tradie’s licence

Two former QBCC execs have hit back at claims that they were to blame for the building watchdog’s shocking failure to suspend the licence of a sex offender.

Procurement and Public Works Minister Mick de Brenni. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

They’re the competent operators who have been thrown under the bus.

Two well-respected senior figures who recently joined the exodus of talent from Queensland’s dysfunctional building industry watchdog had their reputations unfairly trashed Wednesday night by Mick de Brenni.

The Procurement and Public Works Minister was caught flat-footed by the shocking failure of the Queensland Building and Construction Commission to immediately pull the licence of a Townsville tradie, who seven weeks ago pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting five women while working in their homes.

So, as he belatedly rushed to order the licence suspension, de Brenni wrongly shifted the blame for the epic stuff-up on to two unnamed former QBCC operatives.

Minister for Public Works and Procurement Mick de Brenni

“I was advised that a decision not to use provisions to immediately remove this individual’s license was taken by two senior licensing officers in May 2019 who have now subsequently resigned from the QBCC,’’ he said in a statement.

We can reveal that de Brenni was referring to Ian Grant, the former head of the licensing services branch, and one of his deputies, Graham Easterby.

Both of these gents quit in disgust two months ago mainly because of allegedly improper interference in their work from the union-dominated board.

So why didn’t they immediately pounce on the tradie, William Emanuel Camilleri, when he got charged with eight counts of sexual assault more than two years ago?

It’s a little thing called natural justice.

“At the time of my departure from the QBCC in early July, the licensee had yet to be convicted of the offences and was entitled under the law to a presumption of innocence,’’ Grant told City Beat on Thursday.

The Human Rights Act actually prevents the regulator from taking action against a licensee who has been charged but not yet found guilty.

Easterby said Thursday he was “horrified’’ that de Brenni had criticised former QBCC officers for not breaching the Act. “This is particularly so, as he (de Brenni) assisted in the passing of this legislation in 2019,’’ Easterby told us.

Graham Easterby

But wait, there’s more.

Before departing the QBCC, Grant and Easterby left instructions, as per normal procedures, to consider the immediate suspension of Camilleri’s license if and when he was convicted.

So why didn’t we get action from their successors, some of whom have no prior experience in licensing? “They don’t know what they’re doing and there’s apathy,’’ one former insider said.

Incredibly, sources tell us there was also a view inside the QBCC that no evidence had emerged suggesting Camilleri might reoffend.

That astonishing perspective is consistent with what Easterby alleges he was told about overseeing requirements for licensees to be “fit and proper’’ individuals.

“I was informed that the board had mixed views on whether licensing action should be taken against convicted criminal licensees. I was informed that a view was what a person did on their weekend shouldn’t affect their contractors’ license,’’ he said.

Tim Mander, the Shadow Minister for Housing and Public Works, slammed the QBCC board on Thursday for having “no appetite to rid the building industry of rogue operators’’.

De Brenni refused to budge Thursday, insisting that he was correct. “I was advised that a decision to use provisions to immediately remove this individual’s license was not taken in May 2019 when it could have been, at the time the QBCC became aware of the serious charges,’’ he said.