2 hours ago
4
Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie has purged all union figures from two key Queensland government boards, in an act the labour movement says undermines the integrity of the bodies as the LNP embarks on reviews of workplace laws.
Bleijie announced overhauls of the state’s Work Health and Safety and WorkCover boards at 6pm on Friday, with new paid appointments including LNP stalwart Lawrence Springborg and Stafford byelection candidate Fiona Hammond.
What Bleijie did not announce was that six representatives from state unions had been removed from their roles, and no new union leaders had been added.
Queensland Council of Unions general secretary Jacqueline King said Bleijie’s move disregarded the independent worker voices on the statutory bodies that union representatives had provided “for generations”.
“Queensland workers should have zero confidence that these reviews will be conducted fairly or independently when the deputy premier has deliberately removed every representative of Queensland’s registered trade unions from the very bodies established to advise government on workplace safety and workers’ compensation,” King told this masthead in a statement.
“Silencing the voice of workers while expanding the influence of employer representatives fundamentally undermines the integrity of these advisory bodies.
“At the very time workers need a strong, independent voice at the table, the deputy premier has chosen to shut that voice out.”
Bleijie’s move follows a campaign launched by unions in April accusing the Crisafulli LNP of using a review of safety codes, along with one into the state’s broader industrial relations and workers compensation laws, to wind back workplace protections.
Even the former Newman LNP government, of which Bleijie was a member, appointed a union leader to the WorkCover Board – then police union president Ian Leavers.
Bleijie, in a statement to this masthead, described King’s idea of independence as “laughable”, given former Labor ministers Linda Lavarch and Anthony Lynham chaired the Work Health and Safety and WorkCover boards, respectively, under the former government.
“Her definition of independence is, as long as their Labor mates are in charge, all is well,” Bleijie said, adding that workers were “well represented on the Work Health and Safety Board”, to which Labor had also appointed CFMEU figure Kurt Pauls.
“The Crisafulli government is ensuring Queensland workers have adequate protections and fair conditions in their employment. Workers should be safe at their workplace and paid competitively.”
The union figures removed from the nine-person WorkCover Board were Australian Workers’ Union state secretary Stacey Schinnerl and Queensland Teachers’ Union president Cresta Richardson.
In a statement to this masthead, Schinnerl said the lack of union figures on the boards, which administer the state’s workers compensation scheme and advise government on health and safety matters, was disappointing.
She said removing respected union representatives risked undermining the principle that workers should have a meaningful voice in decisions affecting them, and risked “weakening confidence that the interests of working people are being properly represented”.
Schinnerl and King are the two union leaders to have so far given evidence critical of the CFMEU to the government-commissioned inquiry into the construction union and wider sector.
Outside WorkCover chair Chloe Kopilovic – also a Bleijie appointment and a director at the same law firm as Glenn Ferguson, one of the government’s reviewers – and deputy chair Greg Hallam, all board members’ terms were due for expiry or reappointment on June 30.
The previous Work Health and Safety Board was chaired by former LNP Burleigh MP Michael Hart, who was appointed to the role after not contesting the 2024 election. That 14-person board has now been halved, with four union figures removed and none appointed.
These included acting teachers’ union general secretary Brendan Crotty, AWU assistant secretary Mark Raguse, Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union state secretary Rohan Webb, and Queensland Nurses and Midwives’ Union secretary Sarah Beaman.
In a statement, Beaman said: “The announcement is not only disappointing and misguided, it continues the deputy premier’s anti-worker and anti-registered trade union agenda.”
Split evenly along employer and worker representative lines, new additions to that board’s three “worker representative members” include beef producer Australian Country Choice’s chief people and compliance officer, Tracie Deegan.
Abby Sommer, a director at Sommer Partners after a 15-year stint with major contractor John Holland, also joins an earlier appointee, Red Union Group managing director Jack McGuire.
New additions to the employer side include 4 Ingredients founder Kim McCosker.
The entire Work Health and Safety Board’s membership was not due for expiry or reappointment until September 12. This masthead is not suggesting any appointees are not qualified or suitable for the roles.
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.
