Former minister off board

A FORMER high-profile Labor minister has stood aside from his place on the Queensland Building and Construction Commission board and self-reported to the Crime and Corruption Commission.

Robert Schwarten was Queensland Housing Minister from 1998 to 2011.

He joined the QBCC board on December 1, 2016, as part of a revamp.

Mr Schwarten said yesterday he had not attended the last board meeting of the regulator and had self-reported to the CCC in December.

That action followed allegations raised in state parliament last October by LNP shadow Housing Minister and Burleigh MP, Michael Hart, about Mr Schwarten’s close relationship with failed central Queensland builder JM Kelly Group.

A Back Our Subbies campaign has revealed JM Kelly’s history of alleged non-payment and delayed payment to subcontractors and the impact on their lives. But Mr Schwarten has strongly denied he ever took any benefit from the builder.

He said the CCC referral related to claims made by “that **** Michael Hart” that JM Kelly had painted Mr Schwarten’s Kinka Beach house. Mr Schwarten late last year also tendered stat decs to parliament denying the allegations.

“Given my QBCC position I thought it best to refer it to the CCC,” he said.

He had decided to stand aside pending a decision from the CCC, Mr Schwarten said.