Unions pick first major fight with Crisafulli LNP over ‘risky’ reviews

Queensland’s union movement is kicking off its first major campaign against the Crisafulli LNP government, centred on accusations two upcoming reviews of workplace laws will be used to wind back protections.

A $500,000 statewide advertising blitz will anchor the push, as the Queensland Council of Unions also shared details of difficulty even securing a meeting with Deputy Premier and Industrial Relations Minister Jarrod Bleijie.

While reaching well beyond just the construction sector, Bleijie has sought to tie the government’s action to the under-fire CFMEU, suggesting the peak union body had not been listening to “damning evidence” from an inquiry.

The campaign, launching Tuesday on International Workers’ Memorial Day, follows confirmation from Bleijie of a Queensland Productivity Commission-recommended review of state-specific safety codes.

Sparked by high-profile deaths at Dreamworld and Eagle Farm Racecourse in 2016, the number of codes, their alleged misuse and departures from national model legislation was said to be causing confusion across industry.

While the government agreed in-principle with the call from a construction industry-focused productivity probe, it had not yet confirmed it would undertake the review.

A separate review of the state’s broader industrial relations and workers compensation laws, by a figure linked to the LNP and due to report later this year, has also drawn the ire of unions.

“These changes do not just affect one industry. They impact every workplace in Queensland, from hospitals and classrooms to building sites and mines,” QCU general secretary Jacqueline King said in a statement.

“The Premier [David Crisafulli] wants to pitch his government to Queenslanders as moderate. But these proposed changes are anything but moderate and if implemented, they will put Queensland workers’ lives at risk.

“Unions are calling for a halt to these proposed changes. If these laws are introduced that weaken safety and compensation protections, we will campaign until any unjust laws are overturned.”

In a letter to King earlier this month, seen by this masthead and responding to the QCU’s concerns about the productivity commission raised in February, Bleijie said the review “will be undertaken”.

“No decision or repeal has been made and to suggest otherwise would be irresponsible and misleading,” he said. Details of the review are yet to be decided by government.

Responding to questions from this masthead on Monday, Bleijie said: “Has the QCU not been listening to the damning evidence coming out of the CFMEU Commission of Inquiry?”

“Everyone has a role to sort out the CFMEU including the bullying, intimidation, [and] misogyny we have seen on construction sites in Queensland. The Crisafulli Government is doing our part. Will the QCU do the same?”

King was among two union leaders who gave evidence critical of the CFMEU, its former leadership, and their behaviour at one of the inquiry’s first hearing weeks late last year.

In additional correspondence between King and Bleijie’s office seen by this masthead, Bleijie’s staff in early March responded to a meeting request unrelated to the reviews by saying he was “unable to meet for the foreseeable future” because of a “heavily committed schedule”.

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