Crisafulli: ‘No place in a modern Queensland for the CFMEU’

Premier David Crisafulli has again vowed to stamp out the CFMEU in Queensland following further revelations of intimidatory mafia-style attacks in the construction sector.

The latest building industry investigation by this masthead revealed a major contractor had allegedly orchestrated a campaign of attacks in NSW to suppress a worker-exploitation scandal.

According to an interim inquiry by the CFMEU administration, contractor Future Form may have been involved in firebombings and repeated threats aimed at the family of a veteran union official investigating the firm over systemic worker mistreatment.

Construction’s culture of violence and intimidation laid bare in frightening firebombings as calls mount for meaningful action from police and politicians.

Future Form has denied all allegations of wrongdoing.

The latest revelation is unique from other allegations that have dogged the CFMEU over the last year given it is the building contractor rather than the union that is allegedly linked with the attacks.

But despite this, Crisafulli’s attention remained resolute on plans to squash the militant union as a powerful inquiry into the CFMEU gains traction.

“The last thing I want to see is the seedy underbelly of the underworld coming into Queensland building sites and creating underperformance at a time when we need to build so much infrastructure,” the premier told reporters on Monday morning.

“As well as the fact that you’ve got women and children who feel unsafe, you’ve got a culture of bullying of misogyny, of intimidation, and it’s got to be called out, and the last thing we need is bikies running the show on building sites in Queensland.

“There’s no place in a modern Queensland for the CFMEU.”

Crisafulli said the CFMEU stood separately to other major unions in Queensland, such as the Australian Workers’ Union, Queensland Teachers’ Union and the Queensland Nurses and Midwives’ Union.

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He said the CFMEU’s “whole business model is different”.

“It’s about bullying, it’s about intimidation, it’s about misogyny, it’s about driving down productivity, being anarchist,” the Premier said.

“That’s not a function of the union movement, that’s a function of bad individuals who have completely and utterly corrupted and rotten a culture.”

The Crisafulli government is in the final stages of preparing for the commission of inquiry into the CFMEU after three lawyers were unveiled last week as counsels assisting the probe to be led by conservative barrister Stuart Wood AM KC.

The Premier said the royal commission-style inquiry, that is scheduled to run for 12 months with the possibility of an extension, will focus on exposing corrupt figures from the construction union sector.

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But it will also examine links between the CFMEU and the former Labor government, which Crisafulli’s parliamentary rivals fear will be weaponised for political gain through the term of government leading into the 2028 state election.

“Anyone who would allow that culture to perpetuate for so many years and not call it out shows you what you need to know about the CFMEU and the people involved in the CFMEU,” Crisafulli said on Monday in a pointed message to Labor figures.

“The commission of inquiry is an important opportunity to do two things: one is hold those people accountable at all levels, and the second is to chart a course forward to enable a modern industrial relations framework where workers are able to be represented.”

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