Steven Miles pressured to reveal any union deals to become premier

Steven Miles has come under renewed pressure to reveal any union deals he might have struck before his ascension to premier.

• Union boss: Don’t blame us
• PM: Not going national yet

Women will benefit from the eye-watering pay and perks of the male-dominated state construction industry because they will work in the hospitals and schools being built, Premier Steven Miles says.

It comes as Mr Miles is under pressure to reveal any union deals he struck before his ascension to premier.

On Thursday he faced questions about the government’s controversial Best Practice Industry Conditions policy for the third day in a row, after it was revealed the perks being gifted to the construction sector were going the most male-dominated industry in the state.

The Courier-Mail revealed BPIC’s extraordinary perks, which could see traffic controllers paid almost twice as much as teachers and nurses on billion-dollar projects.

But Mr Miles said: “It (BPIC) includes requirements, for example, that they have women’s toilets on site. So it’s one of the key objectives of our projects to get more women into those industries.

“But our other industries, our direct state government employees, will benefit from the infrastructure that these projects are delivering.

“They will work in the hospitals, they will work in the schools and so it’s important that we get the workers that we need to deliver those projects.”

Premier Steven Miles addresses the media on Thursday. Picture: John Gass

Mr Miles said the government was concerned with poor retention and conditions in the industry for female workers, insisting BPIC provided opportunities for women.

“It’s the BPIC sites where women are supported, where they have toilets – the other sites that some in the industry are pointing to where the standards are lower, they are worse for women,” Mr Miles said.

“BPIC is all about getting decent conditions on our building sites and conditions that are suitable for women.”

CFMEU boss ­Michael Ravbar told The Courier-Mail his union was not to blame for the escalating costs on state projects, instead pointing the finger at the government and specifically the Transport and Main Roads department.

“In practice, TMR ignores BPIC and awards contracts to cut-price companies that deliberately price the job low and then demand more money throughout the life of the project, leading to massive cost blowouts and waste,” he said in an opinion piece published on Friday.

“By ignoring the BPIC policy, TMR and its rogue contractors are letting taxpayers down. The truth is the BPIC policy is our best defence against corporate greed and government waste. If Premier Miles is genuine in his support for BPIC, he should show leadership and force TMR to follow the policy on all major road and rail projects.”

AWU boss Stacey Schinnerl

Meanwhile, Mr Miles is under pressure to publicly reveal details of any backroom union deal struck between Labor’s Left and Right factions to install him as premier.

In the four months since he was named successor to Annastacia Palaszczuk, Mr Miles has not said what was allegedly promised by his Left powerbroker Gary “Blocker” Bullock to the Right-aligned Australian Workers’ Union to give him the numbers to become the leader over Health Minister Shannon Fentiman.

While sources say AWU boss Stacey Schinnerl pushed for more influence within the state government’s infrastructure and BPIC policy – a policy shot into the spotlight this week – the AWU has rejected that claim.

But it was understood part of the deal struck between the Left and the Right factions was the dumping of Left-aligned member minister Mark Bailey from the transport portfolio – which had hefty infrastructure expenditure and control over the state’s largest projects.

It was agreed the portfolio would be handed over to the Right, and new minister Bart Mellish was appointed.

Deputy Premier Cameron Dick. Picture: Dan Peled / NCA NewsWire

Deputy Premier Cameron Dick says he held one meeting with Mr Miles before they agreed to support each other in their leadership bids but would not be drawn on any reports of a union deal behind the scenes.

Asked on Friday what had transpired as Mr Miles and Ms Fentiman jostled for the leadership, Mr Dick said he had “one meeting” with the now Premier.

“We met. I determined to support him, he determined to support me,” he said.

“I can tell you, there are greater issues facing this state than what construction workers are paid on construction sites.

“And we’re focused on those issues - cost of living relief, better access to health care closer to home, more affordable and accessible housing, community safety … of course, our bold and ambitious agenda to transition our energy system to deliver clean renewable power and cheaper power for Queenslanders. They are the things that motivate us.”

Asked whether his answer implied a deal was instead struck directly between Mr Bullock and Ms Schinnerl, he said “no that’s not what I said at all”.

“We met, we supported each other, we agreed to support each other and we agreed to focus on the things that matter to Queenslanders,” he said.

On Thursday the LNP said Queenslanders deserved to know whether a deal had been made.

Union powerbroker Gary Bullock

“Here’s the question for the Premier today – what grubby deal did he do?” deputy leader Jarrod Bleijie said.

Asked whether a deal had been made and under what terms, Ms Schinnerl rejected the claim, and said “the Premier was elected by the Queensland parliamentary caucus”.

“The LNP should stop deflecting and come clean on whether they support BPICs or if they plan to cut workers’ pay and conditions after the next election,” she said.

Asked about the BPIC policy on Thursday, Opposition Leader David Crisafulli said the government was not for workers, but for the union movement, but stopped short of saying an LNP government would dump it.

“We’ve reached the point now in Queensland where funded projects are becoming unfunded because the government is running out of money, and it can’t do things on time and on budget,” he said.

“And our commitment is to change that – to hold ministers accountable and to make sure taxpayers' money is treated with the special nature that it deserves.

“We want workers to be well paid, and we want workers to be safe. But contracts have to be entered into, those contracts have to be honoured.”