Former Qld CFMEU heavyweight Jade Ingham reveals next move

Sacked Queensland CFMEU heavyweight Jade Ingham has issued a warning to Labor politicians as he revealed his next step after the union was placed in administration.

Jade Ingham with former Queensland Secretary Michael Ravbar at a rally in Brisbane’s CBD in August. Picture: Steve Pohlner

• Union’s history in Qld

Sacked Queensland CFMEU heavyweight Jade Ingham has revealed he’s going “back on the tools” as he awaits the outcome of a High Court challenge against federal laws which plunged the militant union into administration.

In a real-life podcast interview with satirical newspaper The Betoota Advocate, Mr Ingham also said some unionists would likely vote for Peter Dutton rather than Anthony Albanese at next year’s federal election, such was their fury at the ALP over the administration.

Mr Ingham, the former CFMEU national president and Queensland/NT assistant state secretary, was one of more than 270 officials sacked nationwide in August after the union was put into administration by the federal government.

It followed reports on 60 Minutes and in Nine Newspapers that the union had been infiltrated by criminals including outlaw bikies.

Speaking to the podcast, Mr Ingham said the administration was based on “a handful of allegations” about the union’s Victorian branch that had not been tested in court.

He said the CFMEU, while “not everyone’s cup of tea”, had been “trampled over for political reasons”.

“It’s about political control - nothing more, nothing less,” he said.

“They’ve shot the arrow and now they’re rapidly trying to paint a target around where it landed.”

Former CFMEU national president Jade Ingham, Union protest, Emma Miller Place, Brisbane. Picture: Liam Kidston

Mr Ingham admitted the CFMEU was a “militant” union but said he made no apologies for its role in protecting workers in the “dangerous, hot and dirty” construction industry.

He said there had been 130 deaths on Queensland construction sites, none of them union-controlled, since 2008.

He said the CFMEU’s 100,000-plus members were “absolutely furious” and Labor faced a backlash at the ballot box.

“We’re not supporting anyone voting for the Liberals and Peter Dutton, they’ve shown time and time again that they’re prepared to take a baseball bat to the working class and our living standards,” he said.

“But I do feel like Labor have left a large part of their own constituency politically homeless.

“Some of them (CFMEU) members unfortunately will go further to the right.”

Mr Ingham and other sacked CFMEU officials including former state secretary Michael Ravbar have formed a new organisation called Your Union Your Choice to launch the High Court challenge against what Mr Ingham described as the biggest attack workers had faced.

“I’ve never seen an attack like this; it’s still a bit shocking to be honest, to be ripped out of something you love doing,” he said.

“(But) It’s not about me any more, it’s not about any of us individuals who have been removed from the union. It is about the members and returning their union to them.

“It’s about the type of country now that we want to live in, and our kids to grow up in. That’s the fight that we’re in. This will be a watershed moment for the labour movement.”

Mr Ingham said he was happy to work for free for the union but was planning to go back to work in construction.

“I’m going back on the job, I’m going to go on the tools and we’ll see what happens as a result of this High Court challenge,” he said.

“They might take us out of the union but they can’t take the union out of us. That’s what they don’t understand - they’ve completely underestimated our commitment to the union.

“It’s not just a transaction for us, it is a calling that we will fight for …”

Originally published as Former Qld CFMEU heavyweight Jade Ingham reveals next move