Man now accused of murder drove officials to Watson probe, CFMEU inquiry told

A CFMEU representative who was subsequently charged with murder drove union officials to interviews during an independent probe investigating allegations of violence and intimidation, a commission of inquiry has heard.

Geoffrey Watson, SC, who published a 45-page report alleging a culture of violence in the Queensland branch of the union that included threats and intimidation of women and children, suggested the inquiry investigate claims those who took part in his administration-commissioned work were transported by ousted union boss Jade Ingham or his “stepbrother or a half-brother”, Anthony Perrett.

Watson’s report into the Queensland CFMEU was handed down in July, three months before Perrett was charged with the torture and murder of Brisbane man Andrew Burow. His work was also conducted prior to the High Court ultimately rejecting a bid led by ousted union leaders which sought to return them to power.

On the opening day of the highly anticipated inquiry, Watson revealed he had been told officials were driven to meetings with him by either Ingham or Perrett – a detail he suggested the inquiry ought to “look for”.

“They were driven there by that man [Perrett] and given a tape recorder by either Ingham or that man,” Watson said – noting he had invited all people he spoke with to record interviews themselves if they wished.

“Now is it true? I didn’t go in to look at it.”

The powerful inquiry to investigate the scandal-plagued union and broader construction industry 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.

Under questioning from counsel assisting the inquiry Mark Costello, Watson also said his interviews with remaining CFMEU officials were “hopeless without exception”, given their stated lack of memory of events or answers undermined by video he himself had seen of “instances of violence”.

But he also described his efforts being “stymied by an overwhelming omerta”, or code of silence, which extended to major building companies he could only guess did not want to “rock the boat” despite often having complaints.

Watson told the inquiry he suspected the Queensland branch of the CFMEU aimed to emulate notorious former Victorian union boss John Setka, who seized power and froze out rival construction union, the Australian Workers’ Union, on big tunnel, rail and bridge infrastructure projects.

This turf-war mentality was clearly adopted by former Queensland-based CFMEU leaders Ingham and Michael Ravbar, according to Watson.

“I really do look at what had happened here in Queensland is that people in leadership positions had seen what had happened in Victoria,” he told the inquiry.

“What had happened was Setka had pushed the AWU off all of the civil work … now how did they do that? They terrified the contractors.

“Now I am 100 per cent confident that the people in Queensland, Mr Ravbar, Mr Ingham, they’ve seen that success and said, ‘We can do the same thing.’

“And if you remember, a lot of the troubles really ramped up in Queensland around the time that you had massive infrastructure projects, which is tunnels, railways, things which normally fall within the jurisdiction of the AWU.”

Watson also elaborated on detail in his report about the animosity between the two unions escalating after the state AWU branch’s first female secretary, Stacey Schinnerl, made a joke about a CFMEU protest incident in a speech to the 2022 state Labor Party conference just months after her election.

Her joke prompted Ravbar to erupt and demand CFMEU delegates leave, which they did.

“I don’t care that Mr Ravbar or Mr Ingham will come out every day of the week and say, ‘we do a lot to encourage women’, I like to look at their actions rather than their words,” Watson told the inquiry.

“So I mean, you make your own link there, but I find it irresistible. Makes me wonder, Commissioner – I’m not just giving this as some sort of stump speech, it’s true – I wonder whether the whole thing would be a lot better off if there were a lot more women like Stacey Schinnerl in power.”

Watson said the CFMEU’s reputation as a feared organisation that disregarded the law was a deliberate strategy it “revelled” in.

“They wanted the reputation of being outlaws and taking themselves outside the law and willing to do what was necessary to acquire more power,” he told the inquiry.

“This actually was their business model, their business model was to be feared by everybody – ‘if you negotiate with us, do not think for a second we’re going to obey the law. We will act outside the law.’

“Everybody knew, and by this I do mean people like for example the AWU or the contractors, that if they were stopping a concrete pour today, they’ll do it again tomorrow.”

The inquiry also heard detail of the “close relationship” of former Work Health Safety director Helen Burgess and “another person who is a CFMEU official”.

“Between the two of them, power was distributed in a manner so that they [the CFMEU] could order health and safety [representatives] around,” Watson said.

Ravbar and Ingham, who refused to be interviewed by Watson based on what they later described as a lack of detail shared with them about the matters to be discussed, wholly rejected the report at the time of its publication.

“It is riddled with errors, based on selective and untested accounts, and falls far short of the standard you would expect for such serious allegations,” wrote the pair – whose separate legal representatives were present at the inquiry on Tuesday.

Counsel for Ingham, Colin Mandy SC, told the inquiry there was “no basis in the public report” for allegations he was a misogynist and part of, or that he cultivated, a culture of violence, adding he looked forward to giving public evidence to “answer those allegations and clear his name”.

The inquiry will resume on Wednesday, with further evidence to be heard from Watson – expected to include detail around the CFMEU’s “Youth Crew” – before the union’s administrator Mark Irving KC is called as a witness on Thursday.

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