Federal Court Judge, Justice Spencer has recently criticised the watch- dog (Australian Building Construction Commissioner) questioning if it was even handed.

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Justice Spencer ruled that action took against the plumbers union and a Queensland official was misconceived and “completely without merit.”

The Australian Building Construction Commissioner had sought financial penalties against the union for supposedly trying to force the head contractor on the Gold Coast Project into not bringing on board a subcontractor, Underground.

The union official Bradley O’ Carroll was handed his papers by the ABCC December last year.

His personal fine was an astonishing $66,000, not to mention the unions fine of $360,000.

This week the commission withdrew the action and paid $16,000 in cost to the union, encouraging Judge, Justice Spencer to ridicule the task force of their actions.

Justice Spencer was unimpressed by the managing director of Underground, calling him a “foul-mouthed industrial cowboy,” whose corporation had engaged in a "sham" by allegedly employing workers as independent contractors.

He said the false agreement was an "example of dishonest or fraudulent financial engineering by Underground" whose purpose was to avoid the payments required under a workplace agreement.

Justice Spencer also went on to say that the action took on by Underground was a

"dishonest attempt" to avoid expense to the Australian Taxation Office, as well as its obligation to pay superannuation to the workers.

Justice Spender said the case pursued by the ABCC "should not have been brought".

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