The Housing Industry Association says appointing a former union official as chair of TasBuild is “like putting Dracula in charge of the blood bank”.
TasBuild manages portable long service leave entitlements for Tasmania’s construction workers, funded by a levy of 1.8 to 2.5% of wages paid by employers.
The HIA wants the state government to intervene in the appointment of Nicole Wells, a former Fair Work Commission deputy president who was Tasmanian state secretary of the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU) from 2010 to 2012.
“We need to see change at TasBuild and we’ve been calling for it for too long,” HIA Tasmanian executive director Benjamin Price said on Monday.
“It doesn’t meet the pub test, it doesn’t meet any test and we need to see the Tasmanian government finally take action. The Tasmanian government can’t be passengers here.”
Price said the scheme held $258 million, according to its latest annual report.
Wells was appointed at a board meeting on October 15.
Price said board member Kevin Harkins, who represents the CFMEU, had a previous relationship with Wells and stood aside from the vote, appointing another board member as his proxy.
TasBuild said Harkins declared a potential conflict of interest and did not vote on the appointment.
The Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which also has a seat on the board, is understood to have voted against the appointment.
“We can’t trust the unions, particularly the CFMEU, who are under investigation for up to $15 billion of corruption just across the Bass Strait,” Price said.
The figure comes from a report by barrister Geoffrey Watson, commissioned by the CFMEU’s administrator, which estimated up to $15 billion may have been lost to wrongdoing on Victorian taxpayer-funded construction sites.
The estimate has not been tested in court. Former Victorian premier Jacinta Allan’s government disputed it, but her successor Ben Carroll has since called a royal commission into the state’s construction sector.
Price acknowledged TasBuild’s investments were “running smoothly” at the moment, but said workers’ entitlements could be at risk in the future.
He has previously said he is making no allegation that any money has been misused.
He called on Attorney-General Guy Barnett, who oversees TasBuild as Consumer Affairs Minister, to correct the appointment and for TasBuild to be replaced with a statutory authority accountable to parliament.
“What we’re really calling for is a statutory authority, one that has appointments by ministers, accountability to the public accounts committee and parliament and an investment strategy that’s overseen by the treasurer,” he said.
He also criticised TasBuild’s plans for a new office on Murray Street in Hobart, which he said would cost $10 million.
TasBuild chief executive Mark Williams said Wells was appointed after an “open and transparent recruitment process”, with the position advertised widely.
He said she brought “significant governance, industrial relations and construction industry experience” to the role.
Williams said nothing in TasBuild’s governing documents required the chair to be independent of unions, employees, industry or employers, though its annual reports describe the role as independent.
The chair is a non-voting role, appointed by the board’s three union and three employer representatives.
The government has said it is aware of industry concerns about TasBuild’s governance arrangements and is looking at what can be done.
Wells will serve as chair until April 2030.
