Editor’s view: Miles government must look after interests of all Queenslanders, not just union overlords

The Miles government’s refusal to take on the CFMEU is a complete abrogation of some of its most basic obligations, writes The Editor.

Premier Steven Miles has directed Queensland Police to ask Victorian investigators to “share any information” about allegations of CFMEU criminality that could relate to Queensland. Picture: Liam Kidston

The Miles government’s refusal to take on the CFMEU is not only about craven political cowardice in the face of union bullying.

It is also about a government’s complete abrogation of some of its most basic obligations, such as spending taxpayers’ money wisely and well and looking after the interests of all Queenslanders, not just its union overlords.

We acknowledge this is a Labor government, and so its default position will be – and always should be – to take the side of the workers.

Indeed, that’s the default defence Premier Steven Miles and his ministers use for their apparently blanket acceptance of the CFMEU’s insistent demands for evermore extravagant terms and conditions – “to deliver good wages for working Queenslanders”.

Brett Lethbridge’s cartoon from today’s Courier-Mail.

But that is only one of the roles that ministers must play. Another critical one is to ensure government is not being ripped off – in this case by a powerful union that blatantly uses standover tactics to get its way.

Ministers must balance their will to protect the rights of workers with such basic, but seemingly long-ignored principles, as value for taxpayer money or – God forbid! – demanding some productivity trade-offs in return for better terms and conditions?

The government keeps insisting it is doing all it can to relieve cost-of-living pressures, mainly by handing out hundreds of millions of dollars in direct subsidies.

But at the same time, it is doing little to control its own expenses, in particular the ever-increasing construction costs of a slew of major public projects – driven in large part by its seemingly unquestioned acceptance of the Orwellian-named Best Practice Industry Conditions (BPIC) policy, the CFMEU tax.

Imagine if instead of simply signing off on these demands from a union currently under the spotlight in southern states for its thuggish ways, the Miles government had negotiated with the CFMEU to demand productivity or efficiency improvements in return for higher pay and more generous conditions?

That tends to be how things work in the private sector – more pay for more output. But not in the state-funded construction sector where, according to the industry, the adoption of BPIC has forced up costs by 30 per cent and reduced productivity by the same amount.

We know it is a big ask to insist government ministers stare down the CFMEU’s bullies.

They are a fearsome adversary, as highlighted by weekend revelations of alleged standover tactics and the use of bikies and their like as union delegates on building sites in Victoria and NSW.

For now, Premier Miles is treading a careful line. He gives every impression of not wanting to upset the CFMEU in Queensland, but also realising he might, finally, have to do something about the union’s aggressive tactics.

On Monday, he played down concerns about the union’s conduct on Queensland construction sites. But by yesterday he had taken the reasonable step of directing Queensland Police to ask Victorian investigators to “share any information” about allegations of CFMEU criminality that could relate to Queensland.

It is definitely a start. But in the meantime, if the Premier was really serious, he would start thinking seriously about revisiting the CFMEU tax policy to make sure it is in the interests of all Queensland taxpayers – and not just a bunch of unionists who make threats.