AT LEAST the LNP’s member for Ipswich, Ian Berry, appears to have a sense of humour; slightly perverse perhaps, but a sense of humour nonetheless.

The national Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union recently erected a giant billboard in his electorate, proclaiming Berry had failed to support jobs at the local Swanbank E power station, which is being mothballed with the loss of more than 30 positions.

Berry posed for pictures in front of the billboard, told the local newspaper that it wasn’t big enough, and then suggested the redundancy packages on offer were “not a bad job I tell you”, which was perhaps not the most empathetic message to be sending to workers worried about supporting a mortgage and family.

No such jollity, no matter how misguided, exists in the offices of Queensland’s Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie, who has taken time off from white-anting the doctrine of the separation of powers, undermining the independence of the judiciary and locking up librarians, to wage a Stop the Billboards program.

QUEENSLAND UNIONS FUND BILLBOARD CAMPAIGN

The Department of Justice and Attorney-General have sent legal demands to the outdoor advertising company that owns the offending billboards demanding to see all correspondence between it and the entity that leased them. That would be Not 4 Sale, a body set up to campaign against privatisation of state assets, which has other signage around Brisbane along the lines of “Take note Newman 70% of Ashgrove voters say our power assets are NOT FOR SALE”.

Keep reading to find out why Paul Syvret calls the move “bastardry and intimidation”.

DO YOU THINK THE BILLBOARDS SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO RUN? TELL US IN THE COMMENTS SECTION BELOW

This LNP war on public dissent is being waged under amendments to the state Industrial Relations Act that decrees unions must conduct a full ballot of their members before conducting “political campaigns” costing in excess of $10,000. The arrant idiocy of this requirement is that to poll thousands of members is likely to cost far more than any campaign itself.

In this particular instance the federal body with which the Electrical Trades Union is affiliated is running the campaign and, as ETU state secretary Peter Simpson points out, the CEPU does not fall within Bleijie’s jurisdiction, “it’s just out and out harassment”.

Simmo reckons when the ETU’s lawyers showed legal counsel copies of the correspondence, the immediate reaction was, “Are you sure that this isn’t just incompetence?”

Bastardry and intimidation is probably a more accurate description, for the amendments to industrial relations laws have nothing to do with protecting members’ funds from misuse, and everything to do with silencing critics of the Government.

As a union member myself, I would expect a portion of my dues to be spent on mounting public campaigns over issues that impact my working conditions – a case in point here being the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance’s very public opposition to the former federal Labor government’s plans to introduce proscriptive new media regulations.

Unions are our collective voice and members expect them to be loud and proud when political decisions – such as the Newman Government’s privatisation push – threaten job security and conditions.

Of course when the ETU (and others) waged a similarly vocal campaign against the Bligh government’s $15 billion asset sales program, there wasn’t so much as a peep from Bleijie and his cronies about members’ dues being wasted on playing politics. No, they were cheering from the sidelines, unable to wipe the smirks from their faces as Labor tore itself apart over the issue and trashed public trust in the process.

But, then, barefaced hypocrisy appears to be something of a specialty here.

Consider, for example, the following speech to State Parliament from Bleijie – the architect of Queensland’s controversial “VLAD” bikie laws – on November 25, 2009, when he attacked Bligh’s “draconian” anti-association legislation: “This Bill is a knee-jerk reaction of the Bligh Labor government and a campaign to appear to be tough on organised crime. But, in effect, this Bill removes the fundamental rights and freedoms of the people of Queensland.

“This Bill is an attack on the right of freedom of association. While it is currently intended for motorcycle gangs, once again this Bill does not mention the term ‘bikie’ or ‘motorcycle gangs’, and this piece of legislation could be used against any group that may fall into disfavour regardless of the purpose of their gathering.’’

Pot, meet kettle. Now the target is billboards attacking the Newman Government, and one can only imagine the howls of pious outrage from the LNP a few years ago had Bligh been similarly heavy-handed when it came to using legal mechanisms in an attempt to silence her critics.

“Then,” as a famous poem goes, “they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out ...”

Here we Joh again, indeed.

paul.syvret@news.com.au