Witness targeted in bizarre CFMEU ‘chicken’ smear, inquiry told

A worksite manager on a major south-east Queensland road upgrade received a barrage of chicken-themed abuse in what he believed was an attempt to intimidate him before he gave evidence against the CFMEU in court, an inquiry into the union heard on Tuesday.

Joseph Barker was the senior project manager at the M1 Yatala South Interchange (Exit 41) project for contractor Georgiou Group when he was inundated with chicken videos, images and emojis.

Barker told the Commission of Inquiry into the CFMEU and Misconduct in the Construction Industry he understood the chicken theme to relate to safety mesh installed on one of the bridges over the motorway.

The union had ridiculed the safety measure, which Barker testified went over and above what was required. A specialised safety containment mesh – uni-mesh – had been installed, and Barker arranged for additional wire to also be installed.

That additional wire attracted the CFMEU’s ire.

It started with a post on the CFMEU Queensland and Northern Territory’s Facebook page, depicting an altered image of Barker with chickens superimposed on his head and shoulder.

Less than a week later, Barker said he started to receive calls and messages regarding a Gumtree ad for a free chicken coop. That ad, posted by a user called “Joey Barker”, included his actual mobile number.

Barker did not place that ad.

By May, the campaign increased and he was inundated with chicken-themed messages from unknown numbers, along with chicken noises made in his presence at worksites.

“I received over 500 messages one morning. I got 70 messages before 6am,” Barker told the inquiry.

Commissioner Stuart Wood asked: “How do you use your phone if you’re getting 500 messages in a morning?”

Barker: “You don’t.”

“Even if you had an important message, it’s almost impossible to scroll through and find the message that you’re supposed to receive because it keeps on going,” he said.

“To this day, I don’t take cold calls if I don’t recognise the number. I don’t answer the phone, purely because I was getting phone calls as well, and it was just harassment.”

Barker said he took it to be an effort to intimidate him ahead of an upcoming Federal Court case against the CFMEU, in which he had been called as a witness.

Counsel assisting the inquiry Eddy Gisonda, KC, told the inquiry CFMEU member Hayden Turner-Davey sent the most messages to Barker.

Gisonda said CFMEU members Brodie Wood, Mitchell Thurlow, Stephen O’Donaghue, Ashleigh Playford, Christopher Clarkin, Marcus Hubele, Nicholas Riddle and Hugh Reidy also sent Barker chicken-themed messages.

During his testimony, Barker said it was difficult for Georgiou Group to retain subcontractors when other sites were subject to inflated BPIC (Best Practice Industry Conditions) wage rates.

Barker believed the Exit 41 project’s non-BPIC status made it a target for the CFMEU.

“The impact was that you would get more attention on yourself,” he said.

“They were targeting all of the Georgiou jobs – I just bore the brunt of it down at exit 41, probably because I was in close proximity to the Coomera Connector job.

“The issues were significant. I was losing subcontractors to pressure from the unions appearing on site and basically harassing them, and every time they were trying to work, the union appears and they start asking questions.

“That’s slowing those guys down and a lot of these guys rely on being productive. They can’t make a claim against the CFMEU for delay or disruption, so they were abandoning the job to work on BPIC jobs.”

Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.