CFMEU Qld-NT: Jarrod Bleijie vows crackdown after damning report

Industrial Relations Minister Jarrod Bleijie has flagged further tough action in the wake of a damning report into the CFMEU’s culture of violence and intimidation.

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Tougher laws to stamp out the CFMEU’s culture of violence and intimidation will be considered and militant members could face further investigation, Deputy Premier and Industrial Relations Minister Jarrod Bleijie says.

The state government will not deregister the union despite a 45-page report by Geoffrey Watson SC this week labelling it a violent, cruel, and misogynist organisation.

Mr Bleijie said the government would not dissolve the union, but flagged further action through the Productivity Commission or the Office of Industrial Relations.

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“The problem with dissolution of the CFMEU is they will then be unregulated, and government need to regulate them, because if they’re unregulated, they will be a law unto themselves,” he said.

“The Office of Industrial Relations will be going through line by line in this report and seeing if there’s any further action that they should brief me on or that the state government should take.

“The report indicates that there has possibly been criminal activities, but the administrator does not have the power to investigate those.

“That’s why the administrator has sent this report to the Queensland police.

“God help us for whatever else has happened in the last 10 years of the CFMEU that the report was not able to uncover.”

In a personal video sent out to OIR employees on Thursday, Mr Bleijie assured officers the LNP government had their back, labelling past abuse against them abhorrent and disgusting.

“We won’t tolerate abuse directed at workplace health and safety by CFMEU union officials on construction sites anymore,” he said.

“It’s not an easy job but you need to know this government has got your back.

“We’ll do what we need to do to protect you and keep you safe in your working environment.”

Mr Bleijie also launched a blistering attack on Labor ministers, accusing them of protecting the CFMEU and turning a blind eye to a culture of misogyny and coercion.

“If (former industrial relations minister) Grace Grace and any former Labor minister come out today and claim that they were the victims of bullying in the CFMEU, I’m sorry, cry me another river,” he said.

“They enabled it. They protected the CFMEU.

“It vindicates the whistleblowers who were chastised by the Labor Party. It vindicates every victim of the CFMEU,” he said.

The man accused of transforming the CFMEU into a cruel, misogynist and violent organisation — former CFMEU Queensland secretary Michael Ravbar — rejected the findings against him by Mr Watson.

Former CFMEU boss Michael Ravbar has rejected the Watson review.

In a statement released to the Courier-Mail, Mr Ravbar said the Watson review was riddled with errors and based on selective and untested accounts.

“The report does not establish a proper basis for finding allegations to be substantiated or any basis in fact for asserting that we were responsible for planning and/or direction of any of the conduct alleged in the report,” he said.

He also denied claims he and another man locked a female public servant in a site office for 15 minute.

“It is astonishing and deeply concerning that such baseless claims were included in a report purporting to be a serious investigation,” he said.

“The only doors that lock in that office self-lock as a matter of security, including to prevent people from entering meeting rooms without a security fob.

“They do not operate to lock people in.”

Mr Ravbar said references to the CFMEU as misogynistic, violent and abusive under his leadership were offensive.

“We do not condone any sexist or abusive behaviour,” he said.

“We will not stand by while the reputations of myself, my colleagues, and the union’s proud history are trashed by a report that lacks credibility and by individuals whose own actions deserve far greater scrutiny.”

Opposition Leader Steven Miles said he was not aware of the CFMEU threatening ministers and, asked if Labor took responsibility for the union’s behaviour, said “not at all”.

He dismissed Mr Bleijie’s comments as a political attack.

Mr Miles said the report vindicated the action he took last year to lobby the federal government to include the Queensland branch of the CFMEU in the national administration.

“The steps that have been taken to stamp out this behaviour were started by me and the government that I led,” he said.

“Many people in my own party and the wider trade union movement have criticised me for that but I knew I was doing the right thing and this report vindicates that.”

Opposition Leader Steven Miles on Thursday. Picture: Brian Cassey

Mr Miles, who said he was shocked and appalled by the behaviour, language and thuggery documented in the Watson review, denied Ms Grace had capitulated to the union while industrial relations minister.

“Grace has consistently held a very strong line against this behaviour and you only have to look at the number of times the CFMEU protested against her to see how strong she was in standing up to them,” he said.

Queensland Council of Unions secretary Jacqueline King urged former CFMEU officials to take ownership of their behaviour.

“You have deeply let down Queensland workers and members of our community, you have let down the Queensland trade union movement,” she said.

“What happened to those people in the report and to many others who obviously have not shared their stories is simply wrong.

“The types of behaviours that led to this type of conduct have no place in our community, they have no place in our workplaces, and they have no place in the union movement.”

Ms King said the CFMEU should not be deregistered because it was already going through a process of reform under administration led by Mark Irving KC.

“We as the QCU are happy to work with the Queensland branch to continue that and where we can assist them.

“To deregister it would mean that the construction workers in Queensland would not have a voice at the table, and they deserve a voice at the table just like every other worker does.”

Master Builders Queensland chief executive officer Paul Bidwell said cleaning up the CFMEU would boost productivity and employability in the building sector.

“The builders are reporting that things have been improved,” he said.

“This report will mean he can clean out from top to bottom.

“That may well clean out the majority of those who were loyal to the ousted leaders.”

“It hasn’t turned the productivity dial but it's a step in the right direction and that’s how we’ll measure success.”