Federal election 2016: CFMEU stops work for poll fight

The CFMEU used daily stop-work meetings at a Commonwealth Games venue to campaign against the Turnbull government.

Games chair and former Labor premier Peter Beattie says any delay in construction would be a concern. Picture: Jerad Williams.

The CFMEU used daily stop-work meetings at a taxpayer-funded Commonwealth Games venue on the Gold Coast to campaign against the Turnbull government’s proposed tightening of the building code, court documents reveal.

Federal Employment Minister Michaelia Cash yesterday accused the construction union of holding the 2018 event’s construction sites to “ransom”, costing jobs, wasting taxpayer money and risking Australia’s international reputation.

Construction work on the $126 million multi-sport complex at Carrara was delayed by twice-daily, two-hour stop work meetings last month, prompting Fair Work Building and Construction to take the union to the Federal Court. By consent, the court ­ordered a halt to the rolling stoppages — which the union says are legal under current enterprise agreements with site subcontractors — until the matter goes to trial next month.

The FWBC alleges the union and two officials engaged in ­“coercive” behaviour by misusing the meetings to pressure lead contractor Hansen Yuncken over stalled enterprise bargaining ­negotiations. The maximum possible penalty is $54,000 per contravention for the CFMEU and $10,800 for two named organisers.

The CFMEU denies any wrongdoing. In Federal Court documents obtained by The Australian, the CFMEU denies the ­allegation, and says the meetings had addressed “considerable confusion” over the Turnbull government’s plan to reintroduce the Australian Building and Construction Commission and overhaul the country’s building code.

CFMEU assistant state secretary Andrew Sutherland’s affidavit states the meetings were necessary to “educate our members about what the (new) code will mean and why it is important to organise and fight its introduction”. “We have been seeking to also explain to our members how they can avoid the (new) code being introduced … by working to oppose the current federal government being re-elected,” Mr Suth­erland’s affidavit reads.

Senator Cash said the CFMEU’s actions showed an ­urgent need to re-establish the Australian Building and Construction Commission, claiming infrastructure was up to 30 per cent more expensive without an effective building site watchdog.

Queensland Commonwealth Games Minister Stirling Hinchliffe said despite delays caused by the industrial action, the Carrara venue was on track to be delivered by April next year, one year before the event. Games chairman and former Labor premier Peter Beat­tie told The Courier-Mail any delay in construction was a concern.