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The Crisafulli government is refusing to release the advice and modelling it relied upon to suspend the use of Best Practice Industry Conditions (BPIC) on new major projects.

Premier David Crisafulli and Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie have repeatedly claimed BPIC made projects more expensive, that it favoured unions like the CFMEU, and needed to be scrapped to deliver capital works on time and on budget.

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While the LNP has so far failed to follow Labor’s lead by proactively releasing cabinet documents within 30 business days, an application for the BPIC technical paper that informed the government’s decision has also been refused under the Right to Information Act.

After an internal review, the decision-maker accepted the argument from Brisbane Times that “some of the refused information may be factual or statistical in nature,” and therefore not exempt under the RTI Act. However, releasing it would reveal whether or not it had been considered by cabinet.

“While there have been some public announcements regarding BPIC, the information must be officially published by decision of Cabinet for the exception in … the RTI Act to apply,” the decision-maker ruled.

Bleijie recently said it was “laughable” to suggest the LNP government was less transparent than Labor.

After accusing the former Labor government of unfunded services and capital works blowouts, the LNP government is now reconsidering several projects ahead of the June budget.