CFMEU inquiry LIVE updates: Jacqueline King takes stand as witness as Queensland probe holds second hearing block

The CFMEU inquiry has opened this morning, with Queensland Council of Unions general secretary Jacquline King giving evidence today.

But first, David de Jersey, representing the state of Queensland, said he had spoken with the Police Deputy Commissioner about evidence given yesterday, and there may be an application to cross-examine King.

De Jersey said the police supported all people who had come forward to give evidence.

Commissioner Stuart Wood noted the commission had been well-supported by the police.

We’re now hearing more evidence from King.

Yesterday’s hearing also heard bombshell accusations from Jacqueline King that the CFMEU brought figures to Queensland linked with disgraced union figure John Setka, and a major building company was “stalked”.

King, the Queensland Council of Unions general secretary, told the inquiry the allegations were revealed to her in an “unusual and a bit awkward” meeting with major contractor BMD.

CFMEU boss John Setka at a union rally in 2023.Credit: Michael Quelch

The company, via barrister Travis O’Brien, had been involved in the Centenary Bridge upgrade project and was concerned about a campaign against them from the CFMEU.

BMD representatives showed King security footage from the site and told her concerns about the 24-hour operation of the site, people being “stalked” at night and three tracking devices being placed on BMD vehicles.

King was also told BMD had hired a private investigator who had advised the contractor the CFMEU had brought people up from “down south” who were “Setka’s people”.

Read more here.

You can watch today’s CFMEU hearing live below.

Queensland CFMEU official Michael Ravbar threatened to “go nuclear” over a bill that blocked the embattled union’s access to worksites without permits, the inquiry was told yesterday.

Peak body Queensland Council of Unions has claimed the CFMEU pressured it to indefinitely delay the amendment bill as part of a mooted deal in 2024.

QCU general secretary Jacqueline King told an inquiry into misconduct in Queensland’s construction industry the deal was first suggested by former CFMEU official Jade Ingham.

Queensland Council of Unions leader Jacqueline King at Tuesday’s hearing. Credit: News Corp Australia

King said Ingham proposed that if the bill could be delayed, he would replace strongman Michael Ravbar as boss of the Queensland branch.

Ingham suggested the CFMEU would then return as a QCU affiliate and rejoin the Labor left faction.

King said Ingham told her the alternative was Ravbar “would otherwise go nuclear”.

“He used the word nuclear,” she told the inquiry.

The CFMEU had previously disaffiliated from the QCU in 2017 after a split over a Workplace Health and Safety review of industrial manslaughter laws.

Asked by counsel assisting the inquiry Mark Costello, KC, what “nuclear” meant, King said Ingham told her Ravbar “had the printing presses ready to go on a campaign against the government”.

The amendment bill - which passed a few weeks later - was the result of a Workplace Health and Safety review which closed off the CFMEU’s ability to use sections of the law to access worksites without permits.

After the bill passed, the CFMEU escalated industrial action on worksites around Brisbane, including major Centenary Bridge and Cross River Rail projects, from May 2024.

AAP

At yesterday’s hearing, Queensland Council of Unions general secretary Jacqueline King was brought to tears recounting her efforts to take a rival union’s safety concerns to police – with no response – after a major contractor revealed concerns of employees being “stalked”.

Under questioning from counsel assisting Mark Costello, King told the inquiry on Tuesday that since-ousted CFMEU leader Michael Ravbar had attempted to control workplace regulatory figures.

She said Ravbar had instructed other officials to disrupt union movement meetings and the Workplace Health and Safety Board, which was made “completely dysfunctional” through the presence of former CFMEU state president Royce Kupsch.

Former CFMEU Queensland and Northern Territory divisional secretary Michael Ravbar.Credit: Robert Shakespeare

Read more here.

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 at the Harry Gibbs Commonwealth Law Courts Building in Brisbane.

Prominent union leader Jacqueline King – Queensland Council of Unions general secretary – will continue to give evidence this morning, before Stacey Schinnerl from the Queensland branch of the Australian Workers Union takes the stand.

Schinneral’s evidence about the behaviour of CFMEU officials and members will come after a range of allegations were aired about violence and intimidation aimed at the AWU and her specifically, including threats to her in front of her children at union events.

Queensland Council of Unions leader Jacqueline King giving evidence yesterday.Credit: News Corp Australia

The powerful inquiry headed by Stuart Wood was launched by the Queensland government following reporting by this masthead and 60 Minutes into criminality, corruption and misconduct in the CFMEU and construction industry nationwide.

The CFMEU was put into administration nationwide in 2024 amid claims bikies and organised crime figures had infiltrated the organisation.

The embattled union’s leadership was removed and placed under the control of an administrator.