CFMEU Misconduct: Inspectors Pressured to Target Union-Disliked Firms

0:00This is Corey, here with your quick two-minute update from Sydney News Today. A commission of inquiry into misconduct by the CFMEU in Queensland's construction sector heard explosive claims this week from Workplace Health and Safety Queensland Operations Manager Debra Darden. She said inspectors face pressure to target building firms, the union disliked, forming what she called an alliance to push the CFMEU's agenda over. Real safety issues. Darden, a former principal inspector, describe how union officials join sight walks and push for notices like improvement orders and finds that halted work. This often hit contractors like BMD Group and Queensland still fixing, aiming to replace them with union-preferred providers. She shared personal stories of pressure, including demands for $3,600 fines over household detergent or unmarked water, bottles on sites. In one June 2021 case at a Willow-1 GABA site,

1:00her manager called during a break, insisting on an imminent risk notice despite no active work. The testimony follows allegations of regulatory capture by senior counsel Patrick Wheelahan, who called it institutional corruption under former. Industrial Relations Minister Grace Grace. Darden said she was told by bosses under a labor government to like it or leave, leaving her to take three months of sick leave after one clash. More former inspectors testify on Thursday with Commissioner Stewart Woods' final report due to the Queensland government in July, though that.