Labor veteranr David Hanna could face charges

One of Qld’s veteran Labor powerbrokers could face jail time after being accused of corruption.

One of Queensland’s veteran Labor powerbrokers could face charges after yesterday being accused of corruption over the $150,000 fitout of his luxury Brisbane home in a deal with managers of a construction giant to keep industrial peace on a building site.

In a submission to the royal commission into trade unions, the counsel assisting, Sarah McNaugh­ton, said David Hanna, the then boss of the now-defunct Queensland arm of the Builders Labourers Federation, may have received secret commissions through work carried out by subcontractors for construction giant Mirvac in 2013.

Ms McNaughton said former Mirvac state director Adam Moore and Mathew McAllum, a longtime contractor of the company, may also have committed secret commission offences in ­organising the work, which was mostly billed to Mirvac through false invoices on a commercial building project.

The allegations were first aired in September at hearings of the royal commission, which was told Mr Hanna, a former vice-president of the ALP in Queensland, had approached Mr Moore to do the work on his home.

At the time, building sites had been rife with strikes and industrial action by the CFMEU, with which the BLF merged in 2014.

Ms McNaughton said there was insufficient evidence to suggest that Mirvac itself was involved in the alleged corruption.

In the submission, she alleged that Mr Hanna and Mr Moore had agreed in early 2013 for the works to be done.

“David Hanna knew that the gift of free goods and services placed him in a position of temptation, and that Mathew McAllum was not simply acting out of the goodness of his heart, but was instead, and at the direction of Adam Moore, ‘greasing the wheels’ of the relationship between Mirvac and the BLF in the hope or expectation that it would run smoothly as a result of the giving of the free goods and services,’’ the submission said.

During the hearings, Mr Hanna quit the party after state ALP secretary Evan Moorhouse issued a show-cause notice on his continuing membership. Mr Hanna also resigned earlier this year as national president of the construction division of the CFMEU.

In a statement, Mr Hanna said he would “strenuously defend my innocence’’ and the allegations had not been properly tested.

In another development yesterday, the royal commission dropped its investigation into allegations against CFMEU Victorian secretary John Setka made by a builder, Andrew Zaf.

Mr Zaf claimed he gave free building materials to Mr Setka in exchange for industrial peace and was attacked after going public about the allegations. However, the royal commission heard evidence last month that Mr Zaf possibly had attacked himself.

Construction union secretary Dave Noonan said: “These alle­gations have been thrown around for two years or more and treated as if they were true. John Setka always maintained he was innocent of any wrongdoing in this matter.”