RIGHT OF ENTRY – application for permit – conditions – ss.512, 513, 515 Fair Work Act 2009 – application for a right of entry permit – Mr Graauwmans is employed by the CFMEU as an organiser – has continuously held entry permits from 31 May 2006 until the expiry of his most recent permit on 19 April 2016 – Director of the Fair Work Building Industry Inspectorate (Director) notified of the lodgement of the application – Director elected to exercise his right under s.72 of the Fair Work (Building Industry) Act 2012 to make submissions in relation to the matter – Director opposed the issue of an entry permit to Mr Graauwmans – declaration from CFMEU disclosed a number of court or Commission proceedings involving Mr Graauwmans – whether Mr Graauwmans a fit and proper person – decisions in White v CFMEU and ABCC v Graauwmans must be given considerable weight in the consideration of Mr Graauwmans’ fitness and propriety – White v CFMEU involved the organisation of and engagement in unlawful industrial action for coercive purposes – ABCC v Graauwmans involved the organisation of unlawful industrial action – both matters were indicative of an unwillingness on Mr Graauwmans’ part at the time to comply with industrial laws – held that the passage of time since these contraventions occurred (in White v CFMEU the conduct was in 2008, and in ABCC v Graauwmans it was in 2010) and the fact that they did not involve any breach of right of entry requirements meant that the two matters cannot by themselves be given decisive weight against the conclusion that Mr Graauwmans is a fit and proper person under s.512 of FW Act – however they remain matters of significant concern given that Mr Graauwmans has never expressed any contrition for his conduct or even demonstrated any real understanding that he contravened industrial laws – most alarming aspect of his evidence was that he did not recall, and perhaps has never actually known, that penalties were imposed upon him in both matters – findings made against Mr Graauwmans in DFWBII v CFMEU are relevant matters which must be assigned significant weight – at three Lend Lease worksites on 1 April 2014, Mr Graauwmans misused his entry rights – failed to comply with basic right of entry obligations such as the provision of notice, the production of his entry permit on request, and the refusal to leave the sites where right of entry had not properly been exercised – Commission concluded that Mr Graauwmans would be a fit and proper person to be issued with an entry permit that was subject to conditions that served to emphasise the need for him to comply with the relevant requirements of Part 3-4 of the FW Act, allowed his compliance to be monitored by the Director, and placed the continuance of his permit at risk if he failed to do so – parties provided with an opportunity to make submissions before Commission makes any final orders. Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union – Robert Graauwmans
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