As The Australian Financial Review recalled on Friday, the government's need for Greens preferences in the 2017 election cooled the state's ardour for the Carmichael project, and that change of mood appears to endure.

Queensland's fleet of relatively modern coal generators is government-owned and -operated and accounts for about 80 per cent of the state's generating capacity. But Queensland has committed to a 50 per cent renewables target and the Palaszczuk government is ever more focused on the same sorts of solar, wind, storage and demand management programs that have become a feature in states far less-well endowed with base-load coal-fired generation.

The union accuses state governments past and present of squandering the ballooning revenues delivered by coal export royalties, and the Smyth motion complains that this bounty should have funded regional development generally and conclusive research into, and development of, carbon capture and storage technologies.

'No real jobs in green energy projects'

In all of this, and more, one of the most militant outposts of Australia's most militant unions arguably finds itself more closely aligned with the coal sector's leading political apostles – like, say, Federal Resources Minister and leading Queensland National, Matt Canavan – than it does with anyone in the Labor Party's leadership.

The union, for example, thoroughly dismisses the possibility the renewable energy sector can mitigate the loss of jobs that any "just transition" from coal would force on CFMEU members.

After calling on the state government to take a "careful and considered approach" to any retreat from coal, Smyth's motion asserts that the government "should in fact be looking at what we can do in Queensland to keep jobs with improved technology instead of the phasing out of coal-fired generators".

The motion claimed "there are no real jobs in green energy projects as is already evident in Queensland".


Declaring itself the "predominant coal and power generation union in Queensland" the union expressed "dismay" at the state of debate over coal and frustration that its leadership had not been invited to contribute to the state government's increasingly public management of the "just transition" ahead.

The Palaszczuk government is at the pointy end of establishing The Just Transition Group, which aims to develop policies to assist workers and their communities "as the economy transition to renewables".

The government says the new organisation's advisory committee's membership includes union leaders along with representatives from energy companies and a variety of government bureaucracies.

Failure of communication

But the motion put to the last union board of management meeting in December identified, and complained about, a failure of communication.

"To date there has been no consultation in developing scopes for these projects and, as the predominant union in this sector, we demand consultation with government before any future work is initiated," Smyth's motion claimed.

"The sector won't transition overnight but over a long period of time, government needs to initiate genuine consultation with all stakeholders, not just a select few.

"They use throwaway lines such as 'shut down all thermal coal mines' and 'close all coal-fired generators' whilst just laying the workers off," the motion said.


"We watch proud men and women caring for their families that are reduced to sitting by and watching their futures be decided in the political/media arena. As families struggle through, purchasing their homes, educating their children and preparing for their retirements, they always have to watch their pride and ability to care for their partners and children wain as the challenge of 'just transition' looms.

"Our message to government is that profit margins attached to coal exports and power generation can't be at the expense of real jobs and opportunities for the families and children of workers affected by 'just transition'," the Smyth motion said.

Now, before we create the wrong impression about political allegiances, there is another snippet in the board of management minutes that fully affirms the CFMEU's active support of the Labor Party.

December's meeting received an "update" from Russell Robertson, who is the preselected Labor candidate for Capricornia for the next election and an official at the union's Goonyella Riverside lodge.

Aiming to unseat Landry

Robertson's task is to unseat Liberal National Party incumbent Michelle Landry. She has been a minor thorn in the union's side since being elected in 2013, and in 2014 she claimed local CFMEU members had bullied her, her daughter and her son-in-law in the coal-mining hub of Blackwater.

The union denied those claims and Smyth rarely misses an opportunity to insist she owes the union and the people of Blackwater an apology.

The leaked minutes make it plain the Queensland branch is determined that Landry must go.


The December board of management meeting endorsed a series of recommendations for the Capricornia campaign that were presented by district executive, which is, of course, led by Smyth.

The pivotal proposition is that "the CFMEU mining and energy division should take all reasonable measures to take control of campaign".

The union's executive will also "engage and get members active on the ground" before and during the campaign. To make that happen, the union will door-knock all its members in the Rockhampton area to encourage their campaign involvement. It was also proposed the district mining and energy division should work to secure the support of the construction arm of the Queensland branch for a phone-polling plan. If the comrades in construction demur, then Smyth's wing of the union proposes to go it alone on polling.

Brodsky ban revoked

I can't leave the latest batch of minutes without noting the board of management has revoked a ban it had placed one of its former executive members, Chris Brodsky.

Brodsky was the official who led the fiercely long and exceptionally costly line-in-the-sand dispute with Glencore at the Oaky North mine in Queensland's Bowen Basin.

Personal issues saw Brodsky surrender his job and union membership following the Oaky North capitulation. In December a very angry Brodsky revealed to his Facebook followers that a "gracious invitation" to attend the Mining & Energy Qld District awards night had been rescinded by the board of management. He was supposed to have been given an award and a vote of thanks.

Brodsky wrote that some appear to have "forgotten everything it means to be union". He observed that it was wrong to "kick a bloke when he is down" and that it was "basic human manners" to offer someone thanks for their service.

"You don't find all the things that a bloke did wrong, when you know, and I mean you really know, he did all he could to the best of his ability to do things right 100 per cent of the time, and sometimes, being human, you don't get everything right," Brodsky told his followers.

As it turned out, pretty much the day Brodsky revealed his disappointment, the board of management was recovering its good graces and reissuing its invitation. Mind you, only by a seven-to-four majority and only after two councillors from Brodsky's former beat asked for their no vote to be recorded in the minutes.