Transport Workers Union Queensland boss Peter Biagini resigns after scathing probe
Peter Biagini has resigned as the Queensland branch secretary of the Transport Workers Union after an investigation finds the branch ‘dysfunctional’.
A damning investigation into the Queensland branch of one the nation’s most influential unions, the Transport Workers Union, has resulted in the resignation of branch secretary Peter Biagini and the prospect of legal action against his former deputy.
Finding the branch had “effectively ceased to function”, TWU national council ombudsman Frank Marks said the branch “has been the subject of significant mismanagement, namely bank account management, payment to third parties and flawed processes regarding overnight allowances, credit cards, fuel cards and cab charges”.
Mr Marks said a redundancy payment to Mr Biagini’s former deputy, Adam Carter, had been “contrived”, with national officials now considering legal action to claw back the payout.
He found Mr Biagini failed to disclose that his son-in-law was the principal of a company contracted to install a kitchenette, office cabinetry, joinery components, toilets, partitions and doors in the union’s Murarrie branch office. The probe also confirmed that the son of Michael Cardile, a union finance committee member, was awarded a gardening contract without the conflict of interest being disclosed. Mr Marks accepted the committee member was not aware his son won the contract.
The investigation was launched in May after several allegations were made in writing to the union’s national officials.
As well as revealing the union contracts to relatives of officials and Mr Carter’s redundancy payout, the whistleblower alleged Mr Biagini had been “double-dipping” by claiming an overnight allowance while also claiming alcohol and food expenditure.
In his report, obtained by The Weekend Australian, Mr Marks found Mr Biagini claimed the overnight allowance, which was “intended to cover sustenance”.
However, he also “claimed expenses covering sustenance, including some drinks and meals he had consumed whilst entertaining others”. “He failed to ensure or, alternatively, took insufficient steps to ensure that payments of his own overnight allowances were approved on all occasions and by someone other than himself,” Mr Marks said.
The TWU said Mr Biagini agreed to resign on Friday. However, sources said he would receive a six-month payout on top of his statutory entitlements, with the union continuing to pay his salary through to January next year. His term was due to expire in January 2023.
TWU national secretary Michael Kaine told The Weekend Australian on Friday the Queensland branch had “not met the high standards of governance and accountability expected of it”.
“This is a disappointing situation but one we are determined to fix,” he said.
“As soon as the broader union became aware of these allegations we launched an independent examination and provided full-time administrative and operational support to the branch and its members.”
In May, national officials were sent an audio recording of a meeting of Queensland officials in which Mr Biagini said he and Mr Carter were told by branch president Brad Wyatt they no longer had the support of the branch and a number of organisers wanted Mr Wyatt to take over.
Under a proposed “succession plan” detailed by Mr Carter, Mr Biagini would agree to retire in January next year while Mr Carter’s position would be made redundant and he would receive the redundancy payment as well as a payment in lieu of notice.
But Mr Biagini subsequently reversed his decision and Mr Wyatt and four organisers were suspended.
Mr Marks expressed a series of concerns about Mr Biagini’s conduct including that he made “false and misleading” representations to the union’s branch committee of management and denied the five organisers due process.
A meeting of the union’s national council unanimously agreed on Friday that the Queensland branch’s governance structures “have been temporarily disbanded”.
Governance of the branch will temporarily transfer to the NSW branch under the stewardship of the national council.
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