The lawyer leading a commission of inquiry into Queensland’s CFMEU was a former member of the Liberal party and acted for businesses, raising questions about his impartiality, according to the state’s union movement.
Deputy premier and industrial relations minister Jarrod Bleijie announced on Friday that Stuart Wood AM KC, an industrial relations lawyer of 30 years experience who has worked in Victoria and Queensland, would be the inquiry’s commissioner.
“He is the most pre-eminent qualified industrial relations expert in Australia, and I’m so pleased that he has accepted the government’s offer to start the royal commission today so we can get to the bottom of the culture of the CFMEU,” Bleijie said.
Bleijie said Wood would be required by law to conduct his job “independently, impartially and fairly” despite being a former member of the Liberal party.
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The commission of inquiry will investigate allegations of “the use of threats of violence, intimidation, misogyny and bullying” within the union, that were revealed last month, among other matters.
Wood has been the secretary of the conservative Samuel Griffith Society for the last decade. In 2023, at a ceremonial sitting of the federal court, another lawyer described him as “one who never appears for unions”.
Queensland Council of Unions general secretary Jacqueline King said Wood’s background called into question whether he would conduct the inquiry in an impartial manner.
“Are those personal biases and potential conflicts going to get in the way of having an independent, impartial commission of inquiry, independent from government?” King said.
“Why was he selected? Was he selected because of his connections with the Liberal party?”
King said the commissioner would have to manage any conflicts of interest, including with prior clients – though, she said, that would also be the case for a lawyer who had only represented unions.
She said there was a potential for the inquiry to be a union-bashing and Labor-bashing exercise and Wood would need to manage any conflicts of interest.
“Clearly on the paper, he is very well experienced and should be able to do it … the ball is in his court as to how he manages perceptions about those issues,” she said.
On Friday morning, Bleijie said Wood had been the subject of a “smear campaign” from the Labor party.
“The attorney general and I made the decision and presented that to the governor. It was a governor-in-council appointment. There is no one better qualified in Australia to conduct this inquiry into the CFMEU,” he said.
Wood said he was “delighted to accept this appointment” and was “committed to conducting it with the thoroughness and rigour the people of Queensland deserve”.
“All Queenslanders deserve workplaces that are safe, respectful and operate within the framework of the law,” he said.
CFMEU administrator Mark Irving KC said on Thursday night that the inquiry would receive the full cooperation of the union.
Several lawyers contacted by the Guardian said it wasn’t unusual for industrial relations lawyers to act for only one type of party, whether unions or employers.
The commission of inquiry has broad terms of reference, including investigating the involvement of organised crime in the CFMEU and in the broader construction industry.
It is scheduled to run for 12 months, but Bleijie said on Friday that its deadline could be extended if needed.
Former police deputy commissioner Bob Gee will serve as the inquiry secretary. He will take leave from his role as director general of the Department of Youth Justice and Victim Support to do so.
Wood was appointed King’s Counsel in 2014, is a member of the Victorian and Queensland Bars and has chambers in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne. He was appointed to the Order of Australia in 2019 “for significant service to the legal profession, particularly in the area of industrial relations”.
