Flawed MOU let banned officials argue their way onto building sites

3 months ago 17

CFMEU officials who had been stripped of their right of entry permits were able to argue their way onto Queensland building sites for years, under a flawed arrangement between police and the state’s industrial relations office.

And the public servant listed in a government memo as the point of contact for any dispute where police were called was the same person described in inquiry hearings last week as having a “very close relationship” with “somebody senior in the CFMEU office”, this masthead can reveal.

Helen Burgess, who was disciplined over how she dealt with a CFMEU complaint sent to her personal phone, was named in investigator Geoffrey Watson’s June report into violence in the union as a former bureaucrat who was being probed by the Crime and Corruption Commission.

A CFMEU mural, since removed at the request of the deputy premier, near state government offices in Brisbane’s CBD.

According to Watson’s evidence to the state government inquiry into the union, the unnamed union official and Burgess, then the Workplace Health and Safety’s construction compliance and field services director, wielded their power to order inspectors around.

The powerful inquiry 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, and Watson was the first witness to be grilled last week.

Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie, who in opposition complained to the CCC about Burgess, told parliament in February that her home had been raided by the agency and that she had been suspended from her role.

For years, Queensland’s Office of Industrial Relations and its regulatory functions have been accused by Bleijie and the LNP of being too cosy with the CFMEU under the former Labor government, as the union itself criticised the office for being toothless and slow to act.

Police have also been accused of either not wanting, or not being able, to respond to incidents on work sites involving the CFMEU.

Watson’s evidence to the inquiry suggested a written agreement between the construction and police unions covering how to respond to calls about worksite issues – a claim flatly rejected by the Queensland Police Union.

However, the industrial relations office did have a longstanding memorandum of understanding with police. While not legally binding, it set out the procedures for how the overlapping authorities and responsibilities of police and health and safety inspectors are managed.

Police monitor a CFMEU protest in Brisbane in June this year, after the union’s ousted leaders lost their High Court challenge.

But a version that was in effect between April 2022 and September 2024 incorrectly reflected laws around who could access workplaces – with specific mention of the CFMEU as an example.

That version, seen by this masthead, claimed that union officials seeking to enter a site over workplace health and safety issues only needed a federal – not state – permit, and added that state-based organisations “such as CFMEUQ employees” are “not required to hold a federal entry permit”.

This was despite court rulings against the CFMEU, as far back as 2019 and upheld by the High Court in April 2021 on appeal, confirming that officials needed to show federal permits when entering workplaces under such grounds.

Several former key Queensland CFMEU figures, including ousted secretary Michael Ravbar, former president Royce Kupsch and others named in Watson’s report, at times did not hold permits or had stopped trying to win them back.

A source with knowledge of the matter told this masthead right of entry provisions in the 2022 agreement “were so loosely drafted that they effectively opened the door for CFMEUQ officials to access construction sites without the federal permits they’d had revoked”.

Watson’s evidence about the relationship between a CFMEU official and Burgess, “the very person police were meant to call first in any access dispute”, raises serious questions about integrity and process, the source said.

The agreement also noted that under state law a party to an issue could ask the regulator to “appoint an inspector to assist in resolving the matter”.

In the event a disputed entry escalated to a call to police, the office was to be notified, so police could follow its “expert advice”. Police were only said to be able to help remove a person if then advised the person was not legally allowed to be there.

The document lists two departmental “first points of contact” and their mobile phone numbers for resolving issues arising from disputed worksite entries, one of whom was Burgess.

There is no suggestion that Burgess was involved in preparing the document.

Updates made to the agreement in September 2024 clarified that union officials trying to enter sites for health and safety matters “must be eligible to represent or assist the worker or party” under state law. The mobile numbers were replaced with a generic office landline.

The document was updated again in June to reflect Crisafulli government changes requiring 24 hours’ written notice from permit holders seeking entry under certain grounds, and removing the ability of permit holders or health and safety representatives to take photos or images onsite.

The Office of Industrial Relations declined to answer questions about Burgess’ employment or the agreement. A spokesperson said it would not comment on matters that might “impact or prejudice the work being undertaken by the Commission of Inquiry into the CFMEU or ongoing Crime and Corruption Commission matters”.

Police declined to respond to questions, deferring to the industrial relations office as “the authors of the referred document”.

Comment has also been sought from Burgess independently of the office. A Labor opposition spokesperson said: “The MOU is an operational matter between the OIR and the QPS.”