Tensions boil over at Qld Labor conference as delegates storm out

Tensions between Queensland Labor’s bitter factional rivals briefly boiled over at the party’s state conference on Sunday after the Right faction protested against a motion calling for the end to laws allowing the CFMEU to be controlled under administration.

The motion, which passed on the conference floor in Brisbane, was largely benign, given it specifies that the laws be repealed once the scandal-plagued union’s administration ends – a move already planned to take effect.

But the symbolic move infuriated Right faction delegates, whose primary union, the Australian Workers’ Union, has long feuded with the CFMEU during an aggressive turf war over major construction projects in Queensland.

AWU delegates staged a walkout to loud jeers when Left-aligned Electrical Trades Union boss Peter Ong introduced the resolution, which called on the Albanese government to “return democratic control as soon as possible following the administration”.

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Ong blasted the Right as “juveniles” over the walkout.

“The administration legislation removed the fundamentals of our judicial system – the presumption of innocence, a fair trial and natural justice,” the ETU boss told the conference.

“Democratically elected officials were forced to resign or be removed and ruled ineligible persons for future union roles.

“The precedence created by this forced administration can be weaponised against all unions, and is something that all union leaders should be concerned about.”

The comments appalled the Right faction, given the ongoing Commission of Inquiry into the CFMEU, which has heard allegations of violence and intimidation.

Peter Ong addresses a CFMEU rally last year.Credit: AAP

Earlier in November, the inquiry had particularly focused on aggressive tactics employed by the CFMEU to force AWU figures from construction sites in Queensland.

“We shouldn’t even be talking about this,” a Right faction source not authorised to speak publicly told this masthead. “A Commission of Inquiry is under way and more details of violence are being revealed by the day.

“It is a stunning lapse of judgment by the Left to allow this motion to get to the conference floor when the behaviour of the CFMEU has been so far below community expectations for so long.”

Hearings for the CFMEU inquiry will resume in Brisbane this week.

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