Contractors fight Queensland project rules

The Queensland Major Contractors Association has railed against the State's use of Best Practice Industry Conditions in a submission to a new federal inquiry on procurement. The group has also used its written submission to outline the need for more collaborative contracting. The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Infrastructure, Transport and Cities is tasked with inquiring into and reporting on procurement practices for government-funded infrastructure and the potential to enhance the sovereign capability of the Australian industry. The QMCA argues that there are three key areas of procurement reform needed in Australia: consistency across jurisdictional areas, collaborative contracting to reduce and eliminate the adversarial approach to project delivery, and governments using procurement to mandate industrial relations outcomes. Its submission highlights the Queensland Government's Best Practice Principals (BPP) for the construction and maintenance sector in Queensland. This had been focused on achieving social outcomes such as capacity and capability strengthening of local sub-contractors and suppliers through project procurement and delivery as well as increased apprenticeships, traineeships and indigenous and local employment, it said. "The BPP was further expanded to include certain rates and conditions for projects and job classifications across the building sector," chief executive officer Andrew Chapman writes. "This was driven by a strong union influence over the current Queensland Government and direct input into policy development. "The contracting sector was then 'requested' to apply the BPP to certain designated projects and cascade the requirements with their sub-contractors and suppliers. This resulted in significant cost increases on projects it was applied to – the Townsville Stadium, was the first project that it was applied on and it added a further $48 million to the project cost ( about 25 per cent)." The BPP had since been further reshaped, through external IR influences, into the Best Practice Industry Conditions (BPIC), he said. "Fundamentally, the clauses contained in the BPIC represent a pattern enterprise agreement containing highly restrictive, impractical and costly provisions which would impede the long term viability and growth of the construction industry in Queensland," Mr Chapman said. To secure Queensland Government project work, contractors were effectively being asked to contravene provisions of the Fair Work Act and the Building Code, he said. "The QMCA, along with other industry organisations, expresses serious concerns regarding this proposed system and approach," he said. "It places contractors and subcontractors in an unenviable position of knowingly contravening Commonwealth legislation and codes that govern the building and construction industry, to attain Queensland Government project work. This is untenable and unreasonable. "The Queensland Government should not be asking industry to bear this risk, particularly introducing this through the procurement process." A spokesperson for the Department of Energy and Public Works said the State Government believed Queenslanders expected major contractors on significant projects to meet best practice principles. This includes commitments to local jobs, training and apprentices, workplace health and safety standards and industrial relations. "With regard to industrial relations, the Government believes that a tradie in Cairns is as skilled and worthwhile as a tradie in Brisbane and that’s why best practice wages and conditions apply to major projects across the state. Those local workers enjoy the benefits of quality, safe employment and contribute to their local economy," the spokesperson said "A set of Best Practice Industry Conditions (BPICs) is determined on a project by project basis prior to tender. A good guide of conditions that meet current economic circumstances would be the conditions recently agreed between employers and unions and independently certified and approved by the Commonwealth Fair Work Commission. "However, the State Government does not require a contractor to have a particular form of industrial agreement and will not be discriminating against, or to refusing to engage, contractors on that basis." Read the QMCA's full submission HERE

Contractors fight Queensland project rules

Industry Queensland

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