Opinion: Qld Government’s union buddies would fail character test
Unionists who threaten to rape children and attack non-union workers with crowbars would fail the good-character test enshrined in new laws before Parliament. And that’s bad for the Premier, writes Des Houghton.
Opinion
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SCOTT Morrison’s “miracle” election victory will become a hollow one if he fails to clamp down on union thuggery.
And history is against him.
Queensland CFMEU breaking an industrial law a day
CFMEU secretary John Setka takes on Anthony Albanese over effort to expel him from the Labor Party
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Militant unions have repeatedly outsmarted attempts by several leaders – including Bob Hawke – to make them obey the law.
Union wrongdoing (including bribery, blackmail and extortion, violence, rorting of members’ funds and right of entry breaches) was found at four separate royal commissions conducted over the past 40 years: the Dyson Heydon royal commission 2014-15, the Winneke royal commission 1981-82, the Gyles royal commission (NSW) 1990-92 and the Cole royal commission 2001-03.
The Morrison Government is about to introduce a good-character test that would disqualify many union leaders from holding office. And it will empower the Federal Court to deregister unions.
I wonder why it has taken so long. Corrupt unions are a criminal underbelly, and it’s a mystery to me why this great nation tolerates industrial warfare that adds billions to building costs.
Has the media been vigilant enough in exposing union wrongdoing? Not really. I regret to say that many in the nation’s newsrooms, especially in the ABC, are sympathetic to unions and reluctant to condemn them. Indeed, two former columnists on this paper dismissed the Heydon royal commission as a witch hunt. Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese also backed the CFMMEU during the royal commission and at one stage ludicrously suggested the inquiry was a witch hunt and that Heydon be stood down. Now he is trying to oust John Setka from the Labor Party after the union leader made denigrating remarks about Rosie Batty. This is interesting for he has set a precedent that will require him to expel equally repugnant union leaders. And its not just the unions that need investigating.
With some exceptions the media and regulators like the ACCC have failed to explore the cosy relationship between unions and some big construction firms who seem to have a monopoly on big projects.
And it has to be said that police have been ineffective in responding to union criminality. During the rancorous picket at Glencore’s Oaky North mine in central Queensland, CFMMEU hecklers were caught on security tapes threatening extreme violence against contractors. The details were spelled out in State Parliament. “I’ll f---ing rape your kids c---”, said one. And, “I’ll attack you with a crowbar”. The police did not investigate.
The Courier-Mail has done a solid job chronicling union wrongdoing. There was a telling expose in this paper on Monday with Matt Killoran in our Canberra bureau reporting that Queensland’s militant construction union broke the law, on average, more than once a day every day for the past two years.
Killoran mined figures from construction watchdog, the Australian Building Construction Commission, that show courts in 2017 and 2018 found that the CFMMEU had contravened 846 laws. The tally included almost 682 instances of unlawful industrial action and 105 of coercion.
Federal Attorney-General Christian Porter said there were still 75 representatives of the CFMMEU currently before the courts, across 33 cases involving 750 alleged contraventions of the law across the country.
Porter’s next task, perhaps the most important in his career, is to push through the Ensuring Integrity Bill to prohibit officials from holding office if they are deemed to be not “fit and proper persons”.
This good character test applies to all organisations, not just unions.
More importantly, the new law allows for automatic disqualification of registered organisations for “serious criminal offences”.
The Government is making no secret of the fact that the new laws may see the CFMMEU deregistered.
The courts will be able to issue banning orders for law-breaking unionists. This will be similar to the disqualifications of company directors who breach the Corporations Act.
Porter also wants courts to have the power to remove recidivist offenders from holding positions of office within Australian registered organisations, including trade unions and registered employer groups. And it would become an offence for a disqualified person to continue to act as an official.
Heydon said his royal commission only scratched the surface of union criminality.
Jeremy Stoljar SC, counsel assisting Heydon, called unionists liars and said there was a “culture of fear” to “deter individuals from disclosing illegal, immoral or illegitimate practices”.
“The commission has heard evidence of a general unwillingness on the part of individuals to report criminal activity within trade unions for fear of reprisal, threats and slander,” Stoljar said.
Stoljar also warned many union entry permits were ill-gotten. He said individuals with “significant criminal convictions” for fraud, perjury, wilful destruction and intimidation held permits.
So how did the Palaszczuk Government respond to this news? Disgracefully. Rather than close loopholes, State Labor moved quickly to amend laws making it easier for union officials to enter building sites, state government departments and schools.
Porter’s integrity laws still have to run the gauntlet in the Senate. We are at the crossroads yet again.
I’ve seen Porter up close and he is a formidable intellectual force. However, if he and the Prime Minister fail to push through their integrity program in its entirety, they do have another option. They can always call another royal commission. There is plenty of muck still to be raked and much of it is in Queensland.
Disturbingly, some of it involves links between government figures and union leaders.
NEW WINERY?
FOOD and wine entrepreneurs Michael Conrad and Adam Chapman are said to be behind an ambitious plan to create a boutique winery, a microbrewery and a distillery as part of the multimillion-dollarmakeover at the Big Pineapple on the Sunshine Coast. A master plan still to run the gauntlet at council envisages $6.8m worthof improvements in the first stage. A hotel, an “ecovillage” and glamping facilities are part of the plan. Chapman is theformer chief winemaker at Sirromet. Conrad recently departed Newstead Brewing where he was listed as a director and shareholder.
NEW HOMEBUYER TAX
THE Palaszczuk Government has been patting itself on the back for a “landmark agreement” to make nine developers deliver $1.2billion worth of infrastructure as a condition of approving the mammoth Yarrabilba and Greater Flagstone residential development.I think its taxation by stealth. The costs of course, will simply be passed on to homebuyers, many young tradies and newlywedstaking their first steps into the housing market. I grew up believing we paid taxes so councils and the State Government couldbuild roads, water and sewerage facilities. Flagstone and Yarrabilba, about 50km south of Brisbane in Logan City, are in thestate’s fastest growing population corridor. By 2066 there will be 200,000 people living there.
UNION GROWTH
ANOTHER 22 members signed up last week to the new independent nurses’ union. The Nurses’ Professional Association of Queenslandnow has 4193 members and fees about half those paid by members of the Queensland Nurses and Midwives’ Union, whose secretaryis Labor leader Beth Mohl. I hear the NPAQ will soon roll out more new unions not aligned to the Labor Party.
MAYOR’S TRIUMPH
MARK Jamieson’s horse Weboughtazou (pronounced, we bought a zoo) triumphed last week in the clash of the local government titans at CorbouldPark on the Sunshine Coast. Jamieson, Sunshine Coast Mayor and Local Government Association president, had entered his horsein the race unaware Greg Hallam, the chief executive of the LGAQ, had also entered a horse. Hallam’s nag, Surface to Surface, finished fourth.
IRRITANT
EXTINCTION Rebellion ringleader and Eric Herbert, who glues himself to public streets. The 20-year-old uni dropout is entitled to protest as much as he likes. But he has no right to rob us of our freedom of movement.
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