Why CFMEU QLD boss Michael Ravbar won’t be seen on as many construction sites
CFMEU boss Michael Ravbar has been dealt a blow, withdrawing an application for a key permit after a six-month dispute with the construction watchdog.
QLD Politics
Don't miss out on the headlines from QLD Politics. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The head of Queensland‘s militant construction union will effectively be barred from some of the state’s biggest building sites after losing his federal right-of-entry permit.
The Fair Work Commission heard he was not a “fit and proper person” leading a union with ”a history of defiance”.
CFMEU Queensland boss Michael Ravbar withdrew his application to renew the permit six months after submitting it, after construction industry watchdog the Australian Building Construction Commission sought to oppose it.
The ABCC argued he was not a fit and proper person to hold a permit after he oversaw the union through 175 breaches of industrial law across 28 court cases, while being fined $5000 for a breach himself in the 2019 Legacy Way case.
It means he will have restricted entry on Commonwealth construction sites or sites where the contractors are covered by the Commonwealth building code, which includes major companies like Hutchinsons, Lendlease, John Holland and Multiplex.
Mr Ravbar sought to renew his permit in March this year, but the application was opposed by the ABCC and after six months of proceedings he withdrew the application earlier this month.
ABCC commissioner Stephen McBurney said the union boss had “failed to take meaningful action” to curb repeated breaches by union officials.
“It is important that when permit holders break the law, we use our regulatory powers to hold them to account,” he said.
Queensland judiciary have made numerous comments criticising the union in recent times, including referring to it as the “most recidivist corporate offender in Australian history” as well as having a “history of deliberate noncompliance”.
Mr McBurney said the ACT was the only jurisdiction in Australia now where a CFMMEU state secretary still held the right of entry permit.
“The law provides that only individuals who pass the fit and proper person test are eligible to hold a Federal right of entry permit,” he said.
This is a diminishing number among the senior leadership of this particular union.”
CFMEU Queensland state secretary Michael Ravbar was contacted for comment.
Mr Ravbar has been a long-time critic of the ABCC, in the past describing it as “ideologically driven”.
In 2019 the union boss was fine $5000 for arranging a blockade against a Brisbane crane company to force its management into signing a contentious union agreement during the construction of the Legacy Way tunnel.
More Coverage
‘Free lunch for the little criminals?’: Voter lets fly at Miles
A seething Townsville retiree has unloaded on Steven Miles and the Labor party for their handling of the youth crime crisis and school lunch plan.
A year after Voice, Labor still trying to silence and divide
Labor remains focused and determined to fundamentally change our liberal democracy, our values and our traditions to something out of a Young Labor socialist left policy document.