Special Joint Taskforce Report

The Queensland Government has finally tabled the Special Joint Taskforce Report into the fraudulent behaviour of the Construction Industry ripoff merchants who have operated with impunity since the early days of the industry.

When was the Government given the report? Why did it take so long to table the report?

Who has been charged with fraud and which organisation laid the charges?

The Joint Task Force does not lay charges but it appears that subbies have been screwed again by a Government who promised the world and delivered an atlas.

Once again they have made recommendations to organisations that have a history of doing nothing and quick as a flash ....... they have done nothing.

The Queensland Police can lay charges, when, who and how many are going to be charged?

It's a cynical exercise by the Government who have done a little to make it look like they have done something when as usual, they have done nothing.

Its a bit like a labourer wandering around a building site dragging a piece of rope behind himself to make it look like he is busy.

This link is to the Special Joint Taskforce report. We have not fully digested it yet but could someone tell me where it says even 1 single charge has been referred to QPS.

Is this just more of the big end of town looking after their own?

There are thieves in the industry who have made themselves rich to the detriment of subcontractors and have fine tuned their fraudulent modus operandi to a fine art. They are still at large and remain uncharged to continue along their merry way.

We may have missed the section where the report lists that numerous charges were laid under Section 408C of the Criminal Code Act 1899 (Qld) that deals with the offence of fraud.

On page 5 it states "Offences involved contraventions of state and federal legislation. Those relating to fraudulent behaviour—around 45 per cent of referrals—were largely under the Criminal Code Act 1899 (Qld) (Criminal Code). They included false declarations, fraudulent falsification of records, and forgery and uttering."

It says "Of the 77 submissions that disclosed no legislative contravention, many involved a breach of contract."

Breach of contract may be a civil matter but fraudulent falsification of records and forgery and uttering is surely an offence so who has been charged?

It would appear that with a cursory look they have gone out of their way NOT to refer to the relevant authorites that charges be laid.

There was discussion in the report related to more power to the QBCC, they have all the power they need and do very little with it so please can that idea.

Subcontractors Alliance's Les Williams said;

"This is worse than weak as water and does nothing to alleviate the perception the government established the task force because of media pressure during the federal election campaign." 

Clearly a case of pork barrelling to appease those "whingeing" subcontractors.

Please read the report and email your comments to support@subbiesunited.com.au so that we can include them in our more comprehensive analysis of what appears to be nothing more than lip service and a complete waste of everyone time and the tax payers money.

This is what subcontractors want to see, why hasn't it happened in our industry on numerous occasions?

My initial summation is that the report is "as weak as piss".

Click here to see the QBCC at its smug best, wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars to show someone who is boss and in the process, made a law firm even richer. This gross waste and incompetence will be the subject of an article very soon.