The new Townsville stadium is at centre stage in a dispute over what’s described as poorly implemented procurement policy.

A rally of more than 4000 construction workers in Brisbane passed a resolution calling for an urgent inquiry into the failings of the state government’s much vaunted, ‘Best Practice Principles’.

The policy had failed to deliver on the (state) government’s procurement objectives of creating secure local jobs, training and apprenticeship positions, and maximising use of local content, CFMEU state secretary Michael Ravbar said.

“What we have are major projects such as the Townsville Stadium – involving hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money – where the benefits are not flowing through to the local economy as they should because of mismanagement and the greed of builders, in this case Watpac.”

“There is a complete failure of transparency and accountability, and a lack of willingness on the part of the bureaucracy to enforce what should be sensible policy objectives that aim to leverage the benefit of major projects for all Queenslanders,” Mr Ravbar said.

“In Townsville, for example, tens of millions of dollars that should have flowed through to local suppliers and workers has instead been used to fatten the margins of money-hungry corporates.”

“This is far from ‘best practice’, and sections of the government seem more concerned about protecting the interests of large contractors, than ensuring taxpayers’ money is not wasted.”

“The shortcomings in administration need to be resolved quickly, and before work commences on the next series of major state projects such as Cross River Rail, or Queenslanders risk being taken for a ride by greedy contractors more interested cutting corners to boost their corporate bottom line than delivering lasting benefits for the state.”

The new Townsville stadium was the first major project the state government committed to after the introduction of the procurement policy.