Sacked CFMEU official Kane Lowth removed from the board of QLeave by Grace Grace

Industrial Relations Minister Grace Grace has acted to remove a CFMEU heavyweight from the board of QLeave before the state government went into caretaker mode.

Industrial Relations Minister Grace Grace acted to remove Kane Lowth from the board of QLeave.

The Miles government has kicked a CFMEU heavyweight off a major board as one of its last acts before going into caretaker mode ahead of the state election.

Eleventh-hour listings in the Queensland Government Gazette reveal Industrial Relations Minister Grace Grace acted to remove Kane Lowth from the board of QLeave, the body responsible for portable long service leave in the building and construction, contract cleaning and community services industries.

Mr Lowth, former CFMEU assistant state secretary, was among 21 Queensland officials sacked when the militant building union was plunged into administration by the federal government.

Industrial Relations Minister Grace Grace has removed Kane Lowth from the board of QLeave. Picture: Steve Pohlner

More than 280 CFMEU officials nationally were dismissed as part of the purge following allegations the union had been infiltrated by criminals including bikies.

Mr Lowth has joined fellow former Queensland CFMEU bosses including state secretary Michael Ravbar and another of his lieutenants, Jade Ingham, in forming a new entity called Your Union Your Choice which is mounting a High Court challenge against the administration.

Neither Mr Lowth or any other Queensland CFMEU officials are accused of any wrongdoing.

They have declared war on both the Albanese and Miles governments, vowing a union backlash at the ballot box.

Two union bosses, the Australian Workers Union’s Mark Raguse and the Electrical Trade Union’s Peter Ong, remain on QLeave’s building and construction industry board.

Government gazette listings also used its final week in power to rush through other decisions including the appointment of a new Gold Coast magistrate, Dominic Brunello, as well as lawyer Peter Delibalts as acting CEO of Legal Aid Queensland.

21 Queensland CFMEU officials were sacked as part of the union’s administration.

Mr Delibalts was appointed a magistrate in 2015 but quit after only weeks in the job, and returned to a senior role in Legal Aid, for what were cited at the time by Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath as personal reasons.

Housing and Public Works Minister Meaghan Scanlon used her last days in office to push through ministerial infrastructure designations (MIDs) for dozens of new social and affordable housing in areas including Southport, Birtinya, Wynnum and Toowoomba.

MIDs were also issued for upgrades of schools including Browns Plains State High and William Ross State High in Townsville and Maryborough State Special School, and for a new police station and courthouse at Proserpine.

Ms Scanlon, the Gold Coast’s only Labor MP, is in the fight of her political life against former Sunrise reporter Bianca Stone in the central Glitter Strip seat of Gaven.

Originally published as Sacked CFMEU official Kane Lowth removed from the board of QLeave by Grace Grace