Ingham responsible for violence and sexism, CFMEU inquiry hears

Ousted CFMEU leader Jade Ingham was responsible for violence and sexism in the union across Queensland, the inquiry into misconduct in the construction industry has been told.

The investigative rigour of Geoffrey Watson’s 2025 report into the CFMEU has also been tested by lawyers for former leaders Ingham and Michael Ravbar in a day of cross-examination, causing the anti-corruption expert to become frustrated and combative on several occasions.

Ingham’s lawyer, Tony Kimmins, questioned if his client’s involvement was limited to five specific incidents in the report.

“No, that’s not right. What about the whole of it?” Watson said as he appeared before the inquiry in a Brisbane courtroom on Thursday for a third time since it began public hearings late last year.

“If the whole of the union is violent and has a bad attitude toward women, bad attitude toward the [rival union] AWU … where does that responsibility rest?

“I had credible accounts of Ingham’s involvement.”

Bouncing his leg behind the witness stand, Watson became worked up multiple occasions when Kimmins and Ravbar’s lawyer Ruth O’Gorman KC questioned the process and thoroughness of his investigation.

He was asked about his decision not to record interviews, instead relying on handwritten notes. Watson denied they lacked sufficient detail.

“I’ve been doing this for 30 years, and the fact is that when I say that people don’t talk, it’s because they clam up [on a recording],” he said.

“They may respond on an audio tape, but they are not full … that’s my experience. I made a judgement.”

O’Gorman also began questions on possible missing documents before the lunch break, though denied she was suggesting he had destroyed evidence.

At one stage, commissioner Stuart Wood KC intervened after Watson began drifting and asking questions at O’Gorman.

“I have asked him three times. You should feel free to take a tighter reign with this witness so the witness answers your questions,” he said.

Watson confirmed his work was based on 56 interviews, newspaper and nightly news reports, press releases and social media.

“I don’t have Facebook, but I went to Facebook and I got access to those parts of Facebook which you can get access to if you are not a member yourself,” Watson said.

“I was never willing to cross that awful line, become a member myself.

“When I was investigating, it became very apparent to me that I’d done enough. I’d heard the same story from a lot of people. And I thought, ‘Well, there’s only so far and so long I should do this.’”

He did concede a minor footnote, about a glass door smashed during a protest, was worded poorly.

O’Gorman then began taking Watson through the content of his 45-page report titled Violence in the Queensland CFMEU.

Watson was pressed on the factual basis underpinning his conclusions that the CFMEU was lawless and had engaged in a campaign of violence.

Under the issue of lawlessness, focus was turned to Watson’s reference to the evasion by state CFMEU officials of personal payment orders for wrongdoing made by federal judges.

Watson said he had heard the union had received legal advice from law firm Hall Payne which appeared to justify the union’s payment of such orders instead, but he was unable to obtain it.

“By the way, I can tell you right now. I mean, after all, I am a lawyer. If there was an opinion to that effect, it’s wrong,” he said.

O’Gorman put to Watson there was, in fact, two sets of legal advice from “very experienced and highly regarded silks” stating this was lawful, and asked if it was reasonable for the union to follow such advice.

Watson pushed back, saying he would need to see the brief given to the person writing the advice and what such advice was, particularly given he had asked those he suspected of having had such payments made on their behalf, and they had claimed “privilege against self-incrimination”.

While not initially planned, O’Gorman was said to be continuing her cross-examination of Watson on Friday. Asked by Commissioner Stuart Wood if she expected to finish by the usual time of 3.30pm, she said she hoped so.

“The difficulty is, there’s only so much I can control about the speed at which we’re moving,” O’Gorman said. An amused Wood said he understood: “Well, you’ll try your best”.

Media were later advised the extra hearing day on Friday would not proceed. The inquiry will instead resume on Tuesday, as scheduled.

On Wednesday, former employees for Spanish infrastructure giants Ferrovial Agroman and Acciona alleged then-minister Grace Grace threatened to axe the contract for the $1.6 billion Toowoomba Bypass unless the companies made a deal with the CFMEU in 2018.

Father and son Neile and Ryan Rosenlund, from contractor Rosenlund, testified on Tuesday.

They said they had been pressured to hire a “volatile” former boxer linked to the union and pay for scaffolding that wasn’t needed during demolition of Toombul Shopping Centre.

The inquiry has so far heard allegations of corruption, criminal infiltration, bullying and other malpractice by the CFMEU across Queensland.

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