Queensland Building and Construction Commission hit by spate of senior resignations
The QBCC has been rocked by the exit of more than 20 senior players, with the latest timing their resignations to take effect on the same day.
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What on earth is going on behind the scenes at Queensland’s deeply-troubled building industry watchdog?
We learned this week that another very senior figure, licensing services manager Graham Easterby, has resigned and is heading for the exits at the end of the month.
His impending departure from the Queensland Building and Construction Commission on July 26 is further evidence of a massive brain drain from the agency.
Indeed, more than 20 senior players--including a deputy commissioner, three assistant commissioners and 10 directors--have all bailed out in the past 12 months or so.
Just since May, we’ve seen the resignations of assistant commissioners Yvonne Pengilly and Kate Raymond, as well as Easterby’s boss Ian Grant, who served as licensing services branch director.
As one insider noted, there’s now a huge “knowledge and experience gap’’ at the highest levels, which is likely to hobble the regulator’s effectiveness.
Easterby, a former Australian Federal Police Agent who spent just over three years at the QBCC, declined to comment when we rang for a chat.
But in what appears to be a very deliberate extension of their middle fingers to their superiors, both Easterby and Grant have timed their resignations to take effect on the same day.
Grant is now headed off to a new job with Master Builders Queensland while it’s unclear what Easterby will do next.
Driving the mass exodus of talent in part, we understand, is deep unhappiness with Public Works Minister Mick de Brenni and QBCC chairman Dick Williams, a former ALP state president and state secretary of the Electrical Trades Union.
City Beat spies allege pressure has been exerted on the board with regard to law enforcement, licensing decisions and staff management, including the hiring and firing of key workers.
“Licensing and compliance activities are targeted against companies that are being focused on by unions or board members or other associations. Anybody who objects, they are managed out of the organisation,’’ one insider said.
There’s also supposedly quite a bit of disillusionment with Commissioner Brett Bassett for not standing up for his troops.
Bassett, who was recently spotted in a very heated discussion with Williams on the QBCC’s internal stairs, came to the agency from ASIC in 2016 but is expected to depart well before his contract expires in May next year.
Meanwhile, we hear the QBCC is deeply in the red and needs to relocate by early next year but little has been done to find new headquarters.
A QBCC spin doctor confirmed Easterby’s imminent departure but added little else.
“The QBCC will now start the next steps to recruit a new manager for the licensing services branch,’’ he said.
“The QBCC does not comment on potential compliance-related activities, nor on speculation regarding potential future staff movements.”
As for the matter of relocation, he said the agency will “continue to work with the landlord in relation to a tenancy in South Brisbane’’.
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