The Queensland Government put the behaviour of the construction union under the microscope.

Following a scathing report that was released last week, the Government has announced a landmark Commission of Inquiry into the conduct of the Queensland branch of the Construction, Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU).

The Inquiry will examine ‘coercive bullying, intimidatory and illegal practices and conduct’ which  the Government says is rife within the union.

It will have powers to compel documents and witnesses as well as deliver protections for witnesses.

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli said that the Inquiry is needed in order to lift the lid on unsafe and unsatisfactory practices within the CFMEU.

“This is the most powerful Inquiry in the State to give a voice to those made powerless by the CFMEU and their Labor protection racket,” Crisafulli said.

“This is the spotlight needed to bring the CFMEU out of the shadows, the violence, bullying and intimidation will have no place to hide.

“We are drawing a line in the sand to make sure workers are safe on worksites and productivity can return to construction.

“The violence, misogyny and standover tactics from the CFMEU have no place in Queensland, and this is the first step in delivering the change that’s needed.”

The latest inquiry comes as state and national governments around Australia seek to restore law and order across the nation’s construction sites.

This follows many years of widespread illegal behaviour by the CFMEU.

Last August, the Commonwealth Government placed all branches of the union into administration.

The administration will run for a minimum of three years and will aim to restore law and order to the union’s practices.

The announcement of the Inquiry follows last week’s release of a damning report into the conduct of the CFMEU’s Queensland branch.

The Inquiry was run by Geoffrey Watson SC, who was engaged by the administrator of the CFMEU to investigate the union’s conduct throughout the state.

Watson’s report found that violence, intimidation and threats were commonplace.

“Violence is any behaviour which is physically, sexually, emotionally, psychologically or economically abusive,” the report said.

“It includes conduct which is threatening or coercive, or which causes a person to feel fear for their safety or well-being …

“… Yet, as will be seen, the CFMEU has breached – deliberately breached – every aspect of its own anti-violence policy. The CFMEU in Queensland actually intended to inflict physical, sexual, emotional, and economic abuse on others. The CFMEU used threats and coercion deliberately to cause fear. As will be seen, the CFMEU directed threats and intimidation at women and children.

“In summary, there is no doubt that there is violence in the Queensland construction sector and there is no doubt that the CFMEU was a big part of that violence. This is hardly a revelation. In 2024 a federal judge said he did not require evidence of CFMEU violence because it was “well documented” that the Queensland CFMEU had “engaged in thuggish behaviour.”

“The purpose of the violence is plain – the violence is used by the CFMEU to support a pursuit of political, industrial, and financial power. This included, if necessary, destroying individuals and businesses. The CFMEU is ruthless – it will crush anyone offering any resistance to it.”

It his report, Watson described numerous instances of threatening and violent behaviour.

This behaviour was directed at parties including ministers, company IR representatives, workplace safety inspectors, rival unions and non-union workers.

In one case, an industrial relations representative who was working on the $17 billion Cross River Rail Project was told that ‘There’s a bullet with your name on it – we’re gonna get you’.

In another case on that same project, the union posted large posters of an IR representative on the street in some of Brisbane’s busiest streets and falsely claimed that the man was a ‘convicted woman basher’.

Sometimes violence was allegedly directed at women and children.

In one case, for example, a female public servant who was visiting the CFMEU offices as part of a delegation was allegedly locked in a room and shouted at by CFMEU Queensland secretary Michael Ravbar for about 15 minutes.

The women required psychological help to recover from the ordeal.

What’s more, Watson feared that the Inquiry – which heard from 55 witnesses – merely scratched the surface of what has occurred.

He said that there was an obstinate refusal to co-operates from some critical witnesses who had connections to the CFMEU.

In announcing the new Inquiry, the Government said that the Commission will have powers to compel documents and witnesses as well as deliver protections for witnesses.

The Inquiry is intended to delver deeper into the union’s behaviour compared with what was able to be done through the Watson report.

Queensland Deputy Premier and Minister for Industrial Relations Jarrod Bleijie said that the new Inquiry will be critical.

Bleijie said that the Watson report was eye-opening but was hamstrung by the reluctance of critical witnesses and victims to come forward over fears of retribution.

“Under the Inquiry witnesses will be afforded protections and documents will be compelled to get to the bottom of this insidious militant behaviour that has terrorised Queensland for a decade,” Bleijie said.

“This is Labor’s Fitzgerald moment and will be the end to the protection racket for these CFMEU thugs.

“The 55 brave men and women helped scratch the surface, the Inquiry will now get to the bottom of the CFMEU’s standover tactics so we can protect Queenslanders from this violence, bullying and intimidation.

“This will help restore safety and the rule of law on Queensland construction sites.”

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