The Queensland government has put a halt to a controversial pay agreement that was granted to union members working away from home.
This agreement was supposed to give them an extra $1,000 a week.
According to Treasury modelling, the BPIC will cost the state over $17 billion by the end of this decade.
Due to the concerns about the cost of doing business in Queensland, Deputy Premier and Minister for Finance, Jarryd Bleijie, has ordered a review into the construction industry.
He said the government needed to take immediate action to stop the projects from hitting the people of the state.
The freeze will allow small and medium-sized businesses to get work on government projects without having to get prequalified. It will also help them avoid unnecessary delays and costs.
The freeze will only apply to future agreements and projects.
The government did not rule out the possibility of making the measure retrospective. It noted that existing projects could benefit from the suspension.
The BPIC provided conditions for tradies who were working on public construction projects.
These include being allowed to leave whenever the temperature exceeded 35 degrees Celsius or when the humidity level reached 75 percent.
For working on major public holidays such as Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, the tradies would get a 300 percent pay loading.
They would also receive a 5 percent pay raise in July every year until 2027, and a $1,000 weekly or $200 daily on top of their salary depending on the location of the worksite.
Site allowances were also provided to workers on large public construction projects.
For projects that were worth over $50 million, workers were paid $1.70 per hour, while those working on projects worth up to $1 billion were paid $10 an hour.
Those working on projects worth less than $50 million were paid less.
A rostered day off would be granted every ten working days, which could accumulate as workers were away.