$630k training deal to renovate councillor’s property scrapped

A $630,000 training program funded by the state government has been cancelled, with the money no longer to be spent renovating a property owned by a south-east Queensland councillor.

This masthead reported on Saturday that a state government program would fund construction training for 24 workers to renovate seven cabins and a three-bedroom house on land partially owned by Redlands councillor Shane Rendalls.

The nearly 11,000-square-metre property is on Russell Island, east of Brisbane, where Rendalls is the elected representative.

The state’s Skilling Queenslanders for Work program was to have given training company Skill360, run by the not-for-profit BUSY at Work, $636,700 for the project.

Rendalls and wife Elizabeth own half the property through their super fund, with the other half owned by the president of the Southern Moreton Bay Islands Chamber of Commerce, Dan Golin.

Golin’s share is owned through the Marley Investment Group, a trust of which he is listed as the sole director.

The group bought the property for $975,000 in April last year, shortly after Rendalls was elected to the council.

Projects that receive Skilling Queenslanders for Work funding must benefit the broader community.

The Department of Employment and Training said the plan for this property was to renovate the cabins for crisis accommodation, with the house to be used as a community centre.

The training program was approved in July, and the department said a company called Good Wilma Ltd would operate the site once the work was completed.

Good Wilma was registered in June. Golin, wife Michelle, and the councillor’s wife, Elizabeth, are listed as operators.

Rendalls has repeatedly stated the company is a not-for-profit.

Last week, he said the property had been donated “as a training location to BUSY at Work”.

In a blog posted on his website on Saturday, Rendalls lashed out at reporting of the funding deal, saying the property’s owners were unhappy with work already done as part of the program.

“An offer to host a grant program awarded to Busy at Work (who get paid to run the program) on property part-owned by myself was rejected by us over a month ago,” he wrote.

“We do not believe the model for the grant program is capable of achieving the objectives for the program, and advised their funding agency of this outcome.”

But the government department said on Wednesday that BUSY at Work had advised they were withdrawing from the project.

In a statement, BUSY at Work said “the local host program” had decided not to go ahead with further works following “phase one” of the project.

A BUSY at Work spokesperson said phase one included “grounds maintenance, clean up, debris removal, and other relevant tasks to support their construction training” at the property, as well as at the island’s RSL and bowling club.

Golin said the program did not work in the island setting, and the group pulled out of the project more than a month ago.

“The money to BUSY group was irrelevant, employment outcomes is all we strived for,” he said.

Both Golin and Rendalls have been vocal supporters of the LNP MP for Redlands, Rebecca Young, with whom they have appeared at several local events.

Rendalls wrote an endorsement that was printed on election material by Young, and Golin handed out LNP how-to-vote cards while wearing a blue “Rebecca Young for Redlands” T-shirt during last year’s state election.

In his blog post, Rendalls reiterated that he was still an independent.

Young last week did not answer specific questions about the state government’s funding of the program.

“Given the scourge of domestic and family violence, the safety of victim-survivors is one of the highest priorities for me, which is why I welcome additional domestic violence accommodation for the Redlands,” she said in a statement.

Shane Rendalls was contacted for further comment.

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