Free building work ‘a favour’ says former CFMEU boss David Hanna

The trade union inquiry has heard an explosive recording of two CFMEU bosses.

Michael Ravba is carried into the magistrate court by supporters in Brisbane last year.

A secretly recorded conversation between Queensland CFMEU heavyweight David Hanna and assistant national secretary Leo Skourdoumbis captured the men discussing the destruction of “seven tonnes” of paperwork that was subject to a subpoena by the royal commission.

In the explosive recording heard by the trade union royal commission today, Mr Hanna said: “All CFMEU paperwork that was revelant to that subpoena, Michael (Ravbar, union state secretary) said ‘Aw I got to do it so they don’t have to photocopy everything.”

Mr Skourdoumbis asked, “What was his reason for this?”, to which Mr Hanna responded: “To clear all this out.”

Before the recording was played at the hearing, Mr Skourdoumbis told the commission that Mr Hanna had mentioned document destruction with him, but it was not discussed in detail.

At the time, Mr Skourdoumbis was investigating allegations made against Mr Hanna by Mr Ravbar. Mr Skourdoumbis told the commission that he dismissed the document destruction allegations as “a bit of tit for tat” as part of a “power play”.

In his interim report last year, Commissioner Dyson Heydon referred Mr Ravbar to the Queensland DPP to face criminal prosecution for alleged extortion and threats.

Mr Heydon also recommended Mr Ravbar be charged and prosecuted for breaching corporations laws and for coercion under the Fair Work Act, as well as under competition laws for an alleged secondary boycott.

Mr Ravbar came under scrutiny as a director of the trustee of construction union members’ redundancy funds.

Earlier today, the inquiry heard that multiple trailer-loads of documents were taken from the construction union’s Queensland offices to Mr Hanna’s shed before being dumped at a rubbish tip shortly after the trade union royal commission began its work.

Mr Hanna told the commission in Brisbane today that Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union state secretary Michael Ravbar decided what documents needed to be thrown away or destroyed.

The commission is currently investigating whether documents were illegally destroyed at the union’s state office after receiving a notice to produce information in April 2014.

In late March or early April, Mr Ravbar selected documents he wanted destroyed, Mr Hanna said.

At around the same time, Mr Hanna said “there was some shredding going on” at the CFMEU office, which he told the commission was to make more room for new staff after merging with the Builders Labourers Federation.

“There was a lot of documents that were taken from the office which were all old dusty archives stuff,” he said.

“There was quite a lot ... two or three trailer loads. They went down to my place for destroying and went into a shed.

“It was just too much so there was a tip-truck organised and we loaded it into a tipper and went to the tip.”

He said people were carrying out Mr Ravbar’s orders, and later said of the documents: “I don’t know how old or young it was considering we’d only just moved into the office over there.”

“Michael identified the documents that he didn’t require any more as secretary and said they were to be dumped or destroyed.”

Did union destroy documents?

The trade union royal commission is set to hear evidence regarding whether there was an illegal destruction of documents at the time the powerful construction union was summoned for information by the inquiry.

The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union will again be in the spotlight later today, with state secretary Michael Ravbar slated to give evidence as the commission investigates the possible destruction of documents in Queensland from April 2014.

He will testify at the second week of the inquiry’s Brisbane hearings, alongside Leo Skourdombis the CFMEU official who conducted the investigation into Dave Hanna that resulted in the former national President of the union’s resignation last month.

It came as David Hanna likened Mirvac’s help in organising $100,000 of free work done on his house as a “favour” in the way “lawyers do pro bono work”.

Giving evidence to the trade union royal commission, the former head of the Builders’ Labourers Federation said he believed he would pay all costs of the work done, but did not “desperately” pursue invoices as “no one likes handing money over”.

Mr Hanna is being probed by the inqruiy about work on his south Brisbane home being billed to an unrelated project.

Pushed for the first time on why a Mirvac project manager was spending so much time helping with tradespeople at his four-bedroom home in Cornubia, in 2013, Mr Hanna said “because he wanted to”.

“Because I’m a good bloke. He’s a good bloke,” Mr Hanna told a hearing in Brisbane this morning.

Counsel assisting the royal commission Sarah McNaughton asked: “Nothing to do with the fact you were the head of the BLF?”

Mr Hanna replied: “Nothing.”

Mr Hanna has also told the royal commission that he believed he would be invoiced for all work done on his house, but an estimated $100,000 in work was never billed to him.

“I wouldn’t say I was desperate to pay for it. No one likes handing over money.”

The hearing continues.