CFMEU inquiry LIVE updates: AWU boss returns to the stand

Counsel assisting Patrick Wheelahan is now taking the inquiry through a version of the agreement between Queensland police and the state’s office of industrial relations.

(We reported on this document, which lays out how police and the regulator share their responsibilities around worksite matters, last week.)

Australian Workers Union state secretary Stacey Schinnerl is explaining how the arrangement requiring police to notify the industrial relations office about any workplace entry disputes.

She says one of the first points of contact being Helen Burgess “exacerbated her concerns”.

“I know her to be associated with the CFMEU by virtue of a close personal relationship she had or has with the then president Royce Kupsch,” she said.

“I would have inferred that as a direct line to the CFMEU … given Ms Burgess’ close association with the CFMEU.”

The CFMEU’s then president Royce Kupsch (centre) with Jade Ingham (left) and Michael Ravbar (right).Credit: Facebook/CFMEU

Schinnerl then references past, and current allegations, and investigations against Burgess before the state’s Crime and Corruption Commission.

Australian Workers Union state secretary Stacey Schinnerl is now speaking about her experience, and difficulties, with police.

She says it was difficult for police to do much with the information she and her AWU colleagues were able or willing to provide.

This was often in a more informal way without making statements, as doing so would have gone against the deep-rooted camaraderie within the union movement.

“There’s this unwritten code in the union movement about not grassing on your mates, and it would take a lot for us to pick up the phone and talk about these things,” Schinnerl tells the inquiry.

“That would be seen as the absolute antithesis of solidarity. So the fact that we’ve got to a point where we wanted to make a record of these things tells you how desperate we felt.

“We would have been the complete and utter pariahs of the union movement if we had have done so – as I believe we find ourselves now.”

Schinnerl says she feels it is important to note that the “bad portions of the institution that is the CFMEU are so few” and it was a case of “a few bad apples that have ruined it”.

This was because, Schinnerl says, of the “messiah complex” held by those in leadership positions which she said could make it easy for some – who she can forgive – to get swept up in emotion.

We’re now taking a quick 15-minute break before Schinnerl continues her evidence.

Harassment and bullying was a serious problem but not reflective of the whole CFMEU, the inquiry heard.

Australian Workers Union state secretary Stacey Schinnerl has been careful all morning to reiterate she did not blame the whole union for the abuse of her members.

“I think one thing we need to be very mindful of is it’s not representative of the entirety,” she said while being questioned about the targeting of AWU vehicles.

On another occasion she corrected questions that attributed social media posts to the CFMEU, saying they were instead produced by former leaders who had already been ousted.

Schinnerl was later questioned on the targeting of the AWU offices on Gordon Street in Ipswich. She said three variants of the CFMEU flag were erected at night on the building.

The Australian Workers Union removed logos and branding from union cars to prevent further targeting by CFMEU members.

AWU state secretary Stacey Schinnerl revealed in her evidence she made the decision to protect members, despite being “so proud” of what the symbol represented.

“It was simply an exercise of standing there with a hairdryer until the decals came off,” she said.

One member named Rohan Cassell chose to keep his vehicle AWU branded against advice, and subsequently reported several incidents of harassment.

Schinnerl added her teenage son was also told to stop wearing his AWU hoodie.

Jade Ingham watched on as the Australian Workers Union state secretary was harassed and intimidated by a CFMEU member, the commission of inquiry has heard.

AWU state secretary Stacey Schinnerl resumed her evidence this morning at the Commonwealth Law Courts in the Brisbane CBD.

Recounting the alleged incident where a facepainted man harassed her at Labour Day at the RNA Showgrounds in 2023, she briefly came to tears before steeling herself.

Stacey Schinnerl breaks down describing the incident at Labour Day in 2023.Credit: Commission of Inquiry into the CFMEU

“It’s the most important day of the year for the union movement. We call it union Christmas,” she said.

“I was so full of adrenaline and so conscious my child was watching this happen.

“I noticed out of the corner of my eye I saw a man I thought was Jade Ingham looking on.”

She said she made a plan with her husband to get out, but was followed by four young CFMEU members on the phone. She said their intimidation was then called off.

Australian Workers Union state secretary Stacey Schinnerl will return to the stand today at the Commission of Inquiry into the CFMEU after revealing yesterday she feared for her life after receiving death threats from the rival union.

The two unions had long feuded but Schinnerl told the inquiry she suspected the CFMEU leaders had sensed an opportunity to push the AWU off major projects after it elected her – the major union’s first female leader in Queensland.

“Perhaps a female [AWU] leader would be easy to roll. With enough pressure applied, I might just give up and give it to them,” she said.

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Schinnerl had also outlined various events of aggressive threats and intimidation directed at her union colleagues. At one occasion, an AWU figure was told to pass on a message to her – “if I stick my head up it will get knocked off”.

“I took that to be a threat on my life,” Schinnerl said.

In her written witness statement, Schinnerl revealed herself to be the union official described in CFMEU administration investigator Geoffrey Watson’s report as having experienced aggressive behaviour at a 2023 Labour Day event in Brisbane.

Schinnerl told of being confronted by a man in a CFMEU shirt with his face painted with the words “Australia’s Worst Union”.

The man tried to provoke a response and Schinnerl’s efforts to get him to leave left the pair “chest to chest”. He then turned to one of her 13-year-old sons standing beside her and said: “How does it feel to know that your mum is a f---in’ grub who sells out workers?”

During the interaction, the AWU leader said she pleaded with the man, saying: “This is my child. Do not do this here. Leave.”

Good morning, and welcome back to our live coverage of the Queensland government’s Commission of Inquiry into the CFMEU and Misconduct in the Construction Industry.

Back on the stand today is Stacey Schinnerl, the AWU Queensland branch secretary who first appeared as a witness yesterday.

AWU Queensland secretary Stacey Schinnerl.Credit: Facebook

As usual it’s due to start at 10am Brisbane time (11am AEDT) and to wrap up about 3.30pm.

Our reporters William Davis and Matt Dennien will bring you live updates from the Commonwealth Law Courts in Brisbane.