Fighting for Subbies Rights
Updated at 8PM 13.11.17
This afternoon the QBCC suspended CRCG - Rimfire's licence as they do not have a licensed nominee builder. After all, who would touch them?
This is a QBCC disgrace. They granted this company the 2nd biggest license in Queensland history with the flourish or a pen but a little over a year later they have left subbies and suppliers up sh!t creek without a paddle once again after first saying that the company met the MFR but this afternoon they suspended their license.
Was it pressure from SubbiesUnited and the Courier Mail or was CRCG's time up to find a nominee?
A subbie who is owed $90,000 including retentions (what a joke retentions are) told me today he managed to get a director on the phone but when he tried to talk about the money owed, the director made out that he could not speak English. He was babbling in Chinese.
Do Australian subbies all need to learn Chinese so we can ask the director about the money he owes us?
When I asked the subbie if he knew of others who were not paid his answer was;
"I assume everyone on the Lincoln on the Park project at Greenslopes would be owed money".
I hope he is wrong.
How is it possible that the QBCC can grant a monstrously large building license to a director to enable him to operate the 2nd largest building company in Queensland and one of the largest in Australia but that director reportedly cannot speak our language?
Make up your mind QBCC, is it all good or is it all bad?
All good this morning, all bad this afternoon.
This is from a SubbiesUnited forum member today:
"QBCC granted the turnover for the CRCG -Rimfire joint venture shell based on CRCG’s balance sheet. There is no assets in the shell, hence no ratios to calculate.
Unfortunately, it’s probable to say that CRCG has no assets in Australia. So if they simply fold operations and go back to China- subbies get nothing.
I wonder if the QBCC has taken any assurances or guarantees from CRCG- so that doesn’t happen. Or has the watchdog has dropped the ball again?"
Watchdog have you dropped the ball again or did you get guarantees from CRCG?
Last week I was told they received 3 million from a developer. If that is true, a freeze should be put on their assets so that money doesn't end up in China but is quarantined to pay subbies.
I don't know how people who make these stupid decisions can sleep at night knowing what they have done to subbies and their families.
Surely the QBCC legislation isn't that rigid that the decision makers cannot use their own judgement or is it just that their judgement is p!ss poor?
If it is that rigid, get rid of it and start again because it has a real stench about it just like Rimfire Constructions Qld in liquidation and CRCG - Rimfire.
12.31PM 13.11.17
As reported by Glen Norris from The Courier Mail, the QBCC have investigated monies owed complaints against CRCG - Rimfire Pty Ltd and have said that according to documents provided, financial requirements were satisfied.
This is despite the fact that on two occasions CRCG have been unable to meet their debts as and when they fell due.
My questions to the QBCC are as follows:
- Are the documents provided financials for the Australian CRCG - Rimfire or the International company?
- What assets has CRCG got in Australia?
- Is the money accessible in Australia?
- If they have satisfied the financial requirements, why are subbies not being paid?
- Why are the companies doors locked?
- Why is no one answering emails or phone calls?
- Why have onsite staff left the company?
Under the Minimum Financial Requirements (MFR),
Assets do not include the following:
(a) Intangible assets; (b) Assets not assessed as collectible.
If the assets shown to the QBCC are in an overseas entity, they are not collectable. They are outside our jurisdiction.
18.26 Billion Dollar License
According to the table below taken from the QBCC website, to hold an 18,200,000,000 (yes you read it correctly give or take a quarter of a billion dollars) they only need net tangible assets of 14.4 million.
My math isn't the best but if this company was running at their maximum allowable turnover of 18.2 billion, they would need 49 million dollars a day to meet commitments.
If they had 14.4 million in accessible assets (cash) they only have $39,000 per day operating capital. They have approximately 3.5 hours of working capital if running at their maximum.
It would appear that the QBCC have once again let loose a nightmare on the subcontractors and suppliers of Queensland and while they work under legislation, they should be hounding the government to have it changed.
If CRCG doesn't need a license this big, why grant it in the first place?
Building regulator probes payment complaint against China-linked firm
The Queensland Building and Construction Commission said it had received a complaint last week that CRCG-Rimfire Pty Ltd owed money to contractors.
CRCG-Rimfire is a joint venture company formed last year between the state-owned China Railway Construction Group and Brisbane building company Rimfire.
CRCG, which is the world’s third-largest construction company, had worked with its Australian partner on a number of projects including the $21.5 million Lincoln apartment complex at Greenslopes and a high-rise unit block in Baxter St, Fortitude Valley.
The QBCC investigation comes as China tightens rules on overseas investments by state-owned enterprises amid a campaign to reduce financial risks.
A QBCC spokesman said the regulator had started a financial audit of CRCG-Rimfire in June, following the collapse of a related company, Rimfire Constructions Qld. It says that based on documents provided to it, financial requirements were satisfied.
Rimfire Constructions Qld is being wound up owing creditors an estimated $6 million, with director Danny Cain claiming money promised by its Chinese venture partners never eventuated.
Subbies United spokesman John Goddard said he had received a number of complaints that subcontractors were owed money by CRCG-Rimfire.
The QBCC wrote to CRCG-Rimfire on August 18 last year giving permission for the company to carry out building work worth up to $18.2 billion each year.
Mr Goddard said it was “obscene” that a year after the QBCC gave the company a licence to do work worth billions of dollars it was now unable to pay contractors.
He said conditions in the building sector were getting worse, particularly for those involved in inner-city unit development.
“The QBCC should be cleaned out for granting that licence, which is the second-biggest in Queensland history,” said Mr Goddard. “A year later and they can’t pay their creditors.”
Read Glen Norris's Courier Mail story here.
Letter from the QBCC to CRCG Rimfire
