QBCC boss Brett Bassett leaves the job Friday and it’s understood he’s moving across to QLeave

The head of Queensland’s building industry watchdog leaves Friday and we hear he’s already got a new gig lined up.

Brett Bassett, the head of the Queensland Building and Construction Commission.

We hear the outgoing boss of the state’s beleaguered building industry watchdog is primed to pivot to another plum job associated with the same sector.

Brett Bassett will join the exodus of top talent from the Queensland Building and Construction Commission this Friday when he punches his time card for the last time, capping off a tumultuous five years as commissioner.

City Beat spies tell us that Bassett has been tapped to take on a senior role at QLeave, the state government body which oversees a portable long service leave scheme for those toiling in the building and construction industry.

Brett Bassett.

Launched nearly 30 years ago, it’s funded by an industry levy and has paid out more than $1bn to workers since then. Contracts cleaners are also covered and, since January 1, so are those working in community services.

The most up-to-date information available shows that nearly 300,000 workers and more than 22,000 employers are registered under the scheme. Almost $117m was dispersed to 17,500 employees in the 2019-20 financial year.

But QLeave copped a hammering last year, suffering a $106.6m loss largely because of investment values heading south at the height of the pandemic-driven downturn.

Income plunged by more than half to $70m as expenditures soared 40 per cent to nearly $177m.

Industrial Relations Minister Grace Grace, whose portfolio includes QLeave, declined to answer a number of questions Monday about the Bassett appointment, including those about the search process.

All we got from one of her media minders was this antiseptic line: “All QLeave staff are employed under the Public Service Act 2008 and decisions around appointment of positions within QLeave are operational matters.’’

A QBCC spin doctor merely confirmed that Bassett will depart on Friday “and is looking forward to taking a break after that’’.

Bassett, who clashed repeatedly with QBCC chairman Dick Williams, joins more than 20 senior players at the regulator who have left over the past 12 to 18 months.

Leigh Travers

NEW CRYPTO BOSS

There’s a new boss at the helm of fast-growing Binance Australia, the Brisbane-based arm of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange.

The company, which has more than 250,000 clients, announced Monday that it had recruited industry player Leigh Travers for the top job.

Travers comes here from Perth, where he launched listed blockchain technology firm DigitalX in 2014. Before that, he spent five years on the board of industry lobby group Blockchain Australia.

While DigitalX’s assets have soared to more than $50m, net losses in excess of $9m have also piled up since 2019. It just suffered another $1m of red ink in the December half.

Travers takes over at Binance from interim boss Sam Teogh, who ran the place after the departure of founder Jeff Yew in April.

Yew is now head honcho at Monochrome Asset Management.

Meanwhile, Binance operators overseas continues to face a crackdown from regulators, including those in the UK, Thailand and the Cayman Islands this year.

Travers seemed to acknowledge that reality even if he didn’t address it specifically.

“From an industry perspective, I know it’s imperative that we continue to develop our relationships with regulatory bodies while reinforcing our company commitment to compliance and best practice,’’ he said.