‘Rule of the mob’: Inquiry chief slams police over CFMEU blockade

The commissioner heading the Queensland inquiry into the CFMEU has fired a broadside at the state’s police for failing to act against union action at a major road project in south-west Brisbane.The Centenary Bridge upgrade project became a flashpoint of union activity in 2024, with site shutdowns, confrontations between rival unions and a concerted campaign against the joint contractors, BMD and Georgiou Group.Former site project manager Leigh Hahn told the commission on Thursday a truck carrying imported steel for the Centenary Bridge upgrade was prevented from entering the construction site on March 13, 2024.Commissioner Stuart Wood has been critical of the police response to CFMEU activity at the Centenary Bridge project.Commission of InquiryAbout 15 CFMEU representatives blockaded the entrance at Gate One, causing traffic congestion on busy Sinnamon Road.Police attended the scene but, rather than removing the protesters, directed the truck to leave to ease peak-hour traffic, meaning the steel was not delivered.Commissioner Stuart Wood criticised the police response.“The role of the police is to keep the peace, which means enforce the law, which means allow people free access and egress to the properties they control and not allow a group of blockaders to prevent free access,” he said.“I don’t understand why they directed the truck driver to move on rather than removing the people who are blocking the truck driver from accessing the site.”Hahn responded: “All I can say, Mr Commissioner, is that’s what’s occurred.”Hahn said he spoke to a police officer, who told him he would direct the truck away from the site.“There was a second truck that was inbound; it didn’t get anywhere near Gate One,” he said.Construction on the Centenary Bridge upgrade at Jindalee.BMD“My understanding from that truck driver was relayed to me, is he was approached by other members of the CFMEU, dressed in orange, etc, and they harassed him, and he chose to not attend the site.”When counsel assisting Eddy Gisonda, KC, said there were examples of “police powerlessness” on the site, Wood put the onus back on the police.“They don’t understand what their job is, or they’ve been directed not to perform their job,” he said.Speaking directly to Hahn, Wood said the attending officer “took the side of the lawbreakers” by directing the truck to leave.“His job, and the role of the police in enforcing the King’s peace, is not to keep things peaceful, but to enforce the law – that’s the fundamental obligation,” he said.“[That] the law was being broken, it seems on your evidence, hasn’t been challenged yet. Maybe it will be challenged, but it looked like a very straight up and down situation where people with no lawful right were preventing free access and egress from a site you controlled.“Their job is to enforce the law, and that didn’t happen.“... What happened there was the rule of law wasn’t applied, didn’t run, didn’t operate in that hour. The rule of the mob operated.”Internal Georgiou BMD Joint Venture emails tendered to the inquiry show QPS officers informed project management they could not remove union officials without written confirmation from Workplace Health and Safety Queensland that the CFMEU presence was unlawful.BMD project safety manager Ben Weston giving evidence at the Commission of Inquiry on ThursdayCommission of InquiryEarly Thursday afternoon, former Centenary Bridge project safety manager Ben Weston testified to the inquiry about an incident in February 2024, when CFMEU organisers crashed a meeting between BMD site managers and Australian Workers Union organisers.“We walked out of the office ... and started walking around the balcony because the AWU had left,” he said.“When we reached the top of the balcony that overlooked Gate One, that’s when we saw the AWU vehicle attempting to leave site through Gate One, and the [CFMEU-] aligned people out there blocking and yelling, swearing, shaking their vehicle, and stopping them from leaving.”The commission identified nine of those CFMEU members involved in that confrontation – Hayden Turner-Davey, Christopher Clarkin, Brodie Wood, Clinton Davis, Bon Maui, Stephen Garbutt, Michael Hawkins, Shannon Hall and Trent Oliver – on Wednesday.The commission was also shown police body-cam footage of former CFMEU official Jade Ingham from April 29, 2024 – when BMD shut down the entire workplace to deescalate a confrontation with union officials.“If it didn’t finish a bit quicker, you were about to meet another 300 people,” Ingham was recorded telling attending police.Wood said that demonstrated why the situation was so difficult for police.“Because what they have to do in that situation is say to the mob, ‘OK, well, you want to bring dozens, or hundreds, or another 300’ – as Mr Ingham said, they have to say ‘we’ll meet your 300 with our 400’,” he said.“That requires some planning and some resources because otherwise you just give in to mob rule, and it’s very difficult.”Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. 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