The best tradie job in Australia: Carpenters will earn $330,000-a-year to work on billion-dollar high-rise that includes a casino - and they'll even get a $50 a day travel allowance on days they DON'T work

  • They will earn three times more than nurses at Brisbane's Queens Wharf project 
  • The extraordinary rates are being paid to carpenters to stop them from striking
  • Workers on the $3.6billion site will also get a further 30 per cent from payroll tax 
  • The agreement has been brokered by the powerful CFMMEU construction union

By Charlie Coë For Daily Mail Australia

Published: | Updated:

Carpenters working on a multi-billion dollar high-rise development will be paid $330,000 a year and receive $50 a day to travel to work even on their days off.

The sky-high rates will be earnt by those helping to build Brisbane's Queen's Wharf project to stop them from striking.

The wages are three times as much as those earned by teachers and nurses in Queensland. 

According to The Courier-Mail, workers on the development will also get an annual five per cent wage increase until the scheduled project completion date in 2022. 

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Carpenters working on the $3.6billion Queen's Wharf project (artist's impression) will receive $330,000 a year and a further $50 a day to travel to work even on their days off  

Carpenters working on the $3.6billion Queen's Wharf project (artist's impression) will receive $330,000 a year and a further $50 a day to travel to work even on their days off  

 The base rate of pay for a carpenter working on the project will be $288,500 a year, but when annual leave, public holidays, personal leave, wet weather, lost time, long service leave, Sunday loadings, WorkCover and payroll tax are added it swells to $330,000 a year. 

The generous agreement was reached between the powerful construction union CFMMEU and the consortium behind the $3.6billion wharf - which is the largest private enterprise project in the state's history. 

Brokered by union official Jade Ingham (left), previously described by shadow Queensland government minister Jarrod Bleijie as a 'bully', the deal is expected to be finalised within weeks

Brokered by union official Jade Ingham (left), previously described by shadow Queensland government minister Jarrod Bleijie as a 'bully', the deal is expected to be finalised within weeks

Mr Bleijie blasted the agreement as 'an obscene wage demand' - adding that the CFMMEU 'own the government'

Mr Bleijie blasted the agreement as 'an obscene wage demand' - adding that the CFMMEU 'own the government'

Workers on the development will also get an annual 5 per cent wage increase for five years until the scheduled project completion date - and a further 30 per cent added onto their wage package from payroll tax

Workers on the development will also get an annual 5 per cent wage increase for five years until the scheduled project completion date - and a further 30 per cent added onto their wage package from payroll tax

Queensland's shadow minister for industrial relations Jarrod Bleijie blasted the agreement as 'an obscene wage demand' - adding that the CFMMEU 'own the government'.

Brokered by union official Jade Ingham, previously described by Mr Bleijie as a 'bully', the deal is expected to be finalised within weeks.

The development will contain a new casino, four hotels and 50 restaurants, and be the same size as 12 football fields.

The union has a history of closing projects unless enterprise agreements are signed, and were fined $817,500 in March after shutting down two Brisbane worksites.

The CFMMEU also allegedly encouraged workers to wear shorts in violation of safety rules. 

Mr Ingham was appointed to the Queensland state government in July as a member of the Building and Construction Commission -  a move described as 'completely inappropriate by Mr Bleijie.

Brisbane

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