DRIVEN TO DESPAIR
Contractor threatens violence against Grocon
A CONTRACTOR owed $200,000 by athletes’ village builder Grocon has threatened violence against one of the company’s leading executives.
The subbie made the threat in an email to Commonwealth Games Minister Kate Jones warning that the Government would have “blood on its hands” if nothing was done.
A DESPERATE subcontractor, on the brink of financial ruin after being caught up in four construction company collapses in a year, has no regrets after threatening to harm a key executive of athletes village builder Grocon.
The contractor emailed the offices of Commonwealth Games Minister Kate Jones, Housing and Public Works Minister Mick deBrenni and others yesterday morning, saying “blood will be on the hands of the Government” if they continued “standing by and doing nothing”.
The business owner said Grocon owed him more than $200,000, that he’d had to put his house on the market to pay his expenses and that his staff faced uncertain futures.
“The government needs to do something about subcontractor payments or someone who is very capable like myself will take direct action against the scum who don’t pay their bills and destroy their subbies lives!,” he wrote, adding the name of a senior Grocon employee.
“Does something drastic have to happen before the government will take this issue seriously!”
The government referred the threat to Queensland Police, who are investigating.
The man, who has been in business for 30 years, is among scores of subcontractors who claim they are owed millions of dollars between them for work completed at the Parklands project.
Speaking to the Bulletin late yesterday the contractor was afraid being named publicly would further minimise his chances of being paid.
He said he’d tried complaining to the QBCC and to the company itself and there was no other way to make anyone pay attention.
“What if I was a nut and I did have a firearm licence? I could be on his doorstep before he knew it,” he said.
“(Grocon) would have seen this coming – why couldn’t they have told us? Then we could have walked earlier.
“Now I’m up to my armpits in debt.”
The contractor said he’d lost $120,000 in the collapse of Cullen Group just before Christmas, and another $17,000 in two smaller collapses.
The Queensland Building and Construction Commission has washed their hands of the crisis, saying Grocon is no longer in their jurisdiction as they surrendered their licence last week.
Contractors remain concerned the company plans to shut down and liquidate its unlicensed Queensland division, despite assurances from Grocon there was “zero” chance of that happening.
Grocon went to ground yesterday, with their public relations firm saying they had nothing to add to previous coverage of the issue.
Despite a public fanfare for the “formal completion of the village” in October, the project remains incomplete, with workers still on site yesterday rectifying defects in nine of the highrise apartment buildings and numerous townhouses and their surrounds.
A statement from the Department of State Development said the defects, including scratches in paintwork, were “generally minor in comparison to the scale of the development”.
The defects liability sits with Grocon and, as is common with most construction projects, “extends for 12 months from practical completion of the development,” the statement said.
The Department said it had been in talks with Grocon over their unpaid debts.
Contractors say the company has warned them not to speak to the media and all are wary of being publicly named for fear it could jeopardise any chance of them being paid.
The Bulletin has spoken with two subcontractors owed close to $1 million each, and six others owed between $20,000 and $200,000.
Those that have spoken out say there are scores more subbies waiting to be paid.
“I’ve heard nothing,” said one. “The government should be stepping in, Kate Jones should be stepping in – and they need to step in quick.”
Ms Jones, en route to an election announcement near Cairns, said Grocon was treating Gold Coast subcontractors like second-class citizens and blamed the LNP for giving them the contract.
“What checks did (the LNP Government) do on Grocon before (they) gave this Victorian-based company this major job in Queensland?
“I will look at all measures to put Grocon under pressure to pay their subcontractors.”