Miles government urged to dump ‘CFMEU tax’ in $6bn saving, industry heavyweights claim

One anti-union decision by Premier Steven Miles would pay for the bulk of the 2032 Olympics, industry heavyweights have revealed.

• Qld’s monster year’s spending on contracts and consultants

The Queensland Government could pay the bulk of the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games if it dumped its controversial, union-backed BPIC policy, industry heavyweights say.

The Labor government’s Best Practice Industry Conditions policy – dubbed the “CFMEU tax” – has been partly blamed for eye-watering costs across the sector, with claims it was driving up labour bills as much as 30 per cent while slashing productivity.

Queensland Major Contractors Association chief executive Andrew Chapman told The Courier-Mail even with the most conservative of estimates, dumping BPICs would save at least 10-15 per cent on major government projects.

“We’ve got a $64bn Big Build program over the next four years. If BPIC was not applied you could – conservatively – save 10 to 15 per cent of that cost, and that’s well over $6bn,” he said.

Queensland Major Contractors Association Andrew Chapman says dumping Best Practice Industry Conditions policy would save major costs. Picture: Tara Croser.

“With that, you could easily cover delivering a brand-new Victoria Park stadium, and almost the entire Games.

“You would see a reduction in costs, because BPICs not only drive up labour costs but they drive down productivity – making the projects a lot more expensive

“They also remove the ability of a contractor to bring innovation to the table – things like precast and modular solutions are ruled out – which is exactly the kind of thing we should be doing more of.”

Premier Steven Miles this week rejected an independent review’s advice to build a new $3.4bn Victoria Park stadium despite a panel finding it would be the most cost-effective option, saying he could not justify the price tag.

But a major projects pipeline industry report release late last year found the government’s own

BPIC policy was lifting the already “high floor” of construction costs, and leading to a “substantial reduction in the value for money equation.”

Aerial images of how the proposed and rejected Victoria Park stadium for the Olympics would look. Picture: ARCHIPELAGO

One construction executive said it was “pretty rich for (Mr) Miles to be talking about value-for-money when Labor introduced BPIC”.

A CFMEU spokesman denied the policy was leading to blowouts, saying BPIC projects were ”good for the industry and good for the taxpayer”.

“Blue collar unions including the CFMEU are on a unity ticket about BPIC,” he said.

“BPICs are an important safeguard against contractors who for years have price gouged on government projects and treated Queensland taxpayers like an ATM.”

A government spokeswoman said “good wages and conditions means we can attract more skilled workers to Queensland”.

“At a time when people are experiencing rising household costs, it doesn’t make any sense to suggest cutting workers’ wages,” she said.

Mr Chapman said the government needed to focus more on the value for money of the options on the table as well as the whole-of-life costs for the venue options.

“Just because something is the cheapest option, does not equate to it delivering the best value for money,” he said.

“Contractors will build what they’re told to build, but greenfield construction is more cost-effective than brownfield construction.”