CFMEU’s Jade Ingham joins Queensland Building and Construction Commission

A CFMEU heavyweight who doesn’t have a right-of-entry permit to enter a workplace has been given the nod by the Government to join the Queensland Building and Construction Commission – the very group that oversees the rules he has flouted – writes Peter Gleeson.

CFMEU heavyweight Jade Ingham does not have a right-of-entry permit to enter a workplace, yet the State Government gave him the green light to join the Queensland Building and Construction Commission.

This is no ordinary union organiser.

Ingham has effectively been put on a board that oversees the state’s building and construction regulatory framework – the rules that he has deliberately flouted. So you have someone who has only last year withdrawn their application to the Fair Work Commission for a new entry permit (permits are only provided for fit and proper applicants), yet the Government has no problem appointing him to a paid board position in which he will be asked to provide input on how the industry is run in Queensland.

The CFMEU’s Jade Ingham is being rewarded for bad behaviour.

Seriously? Four days after being appointed to the board, Ingham appeared before the Federal Court on charges that he and four colleagues unlawfully visited worksites in 2016 without proper entry notices, and that they allegedly organised unlawful work stoppages. A decision on that case, before Justice Berna Collier, is pending.

Ingham breached a right-of-entry regulation on the Toowoomba bypass project. It has now been well documented that he has a long record when it comes to industrial unlawfulness and civil disobedience.

The CFMEU is well known to the courts. From 1999-2017, they have imposed 135 civil penalties against the union in Queensland. Many of the cases involved union members organising or threatening to organise unlawful industrial action or coercive conduct.

Ingham is generally regarded as state boss Michael Ravbar’s right hand man. There are many cases where the Australian Building and Construction Commission has been critical of the CFMEU and its senior officers. Here’s an excerpt from a judgment made by Justices Dowsett, Greenwood and Wigney of the Federal Court, dated August 3 last year. It sums up the frustration the judiciary has with this mob.

“The CFMEU, through its officials, deliberately encouraged 605 workers at three major Queensland Government-related construction sites to fail or refuse to attend work on the sites over a three-day period.

CFMEU state boss Michael Ravbar, whose right hand man is considered to be Jade Ingham. Picture: AAP/Claudia Baxter

“The value of the contracted work at the three sites was over $1 billion. The actions of the CFMEU officials were part of a highly co-ordinated and deliberately orchestrated campaign designed to apply pressure to the Queensland Government through unlawful industrial action.

“The CFMEU is a recidivist when it comes to contravening industrial laws. No penalties that have been imposed in the past have appeared to reduce its willingness to breach the law. It continues to thumb its nose at the industrial laws, including the BCII.’’

There are scores of similar cases that are easily referenced through the BCII website. Suffice to say, it’s not pretty reading. Work on all Queensland Government jobs are being hindered by the bully-boy tactics of the CFMEU.

The estimate from high-level sources suggests the cost increases for state-funded projects done with CFMEU EBAs are about 30 per cent more than non-CFMEU EBAs. Apply that to multimillion-dollar sports stadiums, schools, hospitals and police stations and you get the picture.

That is tens of millions that could be going to frontline services such as more teachers and nurses. Who pays for that? It’s the taxpayer. Who benefits from the CFMEU’s deep pockets during election time? It’s the Labor Party.

Let’s call this out for what it is – it’s wrong.

By appointing Ingham to the statutory body that oversees construction and building laws in Queensland, the person responsible for the decision, Public Works and Housing Minister Mick de Brenni, is rewarding bad behaviour.

If he has to have a unionist on the board, surely he could find a senior unionist without the record. Not only that, he’s signalled to the rest of Australia that the unions are running this state and, if you want to do business here, you’d better get with the script.

Not only is he allowing this unlawful and poor behaviour to blossom under this Government, de Brenni has appointed a senior official from a union that targets government worksites. So the CFMEU declares war on government worksites and one of its boys gets to go on the board that regulates the industry.

The Premier needs to intervene. The fact that Cabinet knew of Ingham’s reputation and still approved his new role is extraordinary. De Brenni should cool his heels on the backbench for a while. On a scale of one to 10 for taking the public for a ride, this is an 11.

************************************************************************

CHANGE IS IN THE AIR – AND ON TV

Nine boss Hugh Marks.

THE media landscape in Queensland is about to get a shake-up, with the “merger” between Fairfax and the Nine Network expected to trigger significant change.

The contracts of several of Australia’s highest-profile TV and radio personalities will be heavily scrutinised over coming months.

In fact, one of the biggest names in broadcasting is entitled to be a little nervous. High-level sources say Nine boss Hugh Marks is not a big fan. Something to do with said personality being critical of Marks’ appointment when he took over from David Gyngell.

Expect Nine Queensland boss Kylie Blucher to take on a much bigger role when the deal is signed off by regulators and shareholders.

Blucher was one of about a dozen Nine execs who was last year put through a tortuous mini-MBA to hone their management skills as the cross-media ownership laws went through Federal Parliament.

The new laws now allow Nine to acquire – it’s not a merger – Fairfax, meaning it will control a major free-to-air TV network, legacy newspaper mastheads like The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Australian Financial Review, and a two-thirds ownership of radio talkback stations such as 2GB, 3AW, 4BC and 6PR.

Fairfax is a relative minnow in Queensland, with the small Brisbane Times outfit and a few rural titles to come under Nine’s control. It’s not clear if Nine will want to keep them.

One man whose stocks are on the rise is radio tsar Ray Hadley. He calls rugby league for Nine and is the king of morning radio in Sydney and Brisbane. He regularly catches up with Marks, and they enjoy the odd game of golf together.