Rugby league star Darren Lockyer has taken the stand in Brisbane court proceedings related to the collapse of mining labour-hire group, One Key Workforce.

July 17, 2020

Former Australian rugby league captain Darren Lockyer has been grilled in a Brisbane court over a collapsed mining labour-hire company he was a director of and part-owned.

The hearing in the Magistrates Court is examining the affairs of One Key Workforce, which was shut down in 2018 potentially owing more than $50 million to about 2000 casual employees.

Lockyer was the public face and an on-again-off-again director of the One Key group of businesses, which included One Key Workforce and One Key Resources, from 2015 until early this year.

The court has been told One Key Workforce supplied blue-collar workers for the coal mining industry to One Key Resources at cost.

“One Key Resources has the contracts with all the customers and earns all the profits, is that a fair summary?” examiner Brian O’Donnell asked the NRL great turned media identity on Friday.

Mr Lockyer agreed, saying One Key Resources made about $8 million profit in 2016.

“(But) I am not an expert on how the company was set up,” he said.

The court heard Lockyer Enterprises held a five per cent stake in the One Key group, which it sold to global recruitment outfit, Fircroft, in 2016.

Mr Lockyer stepped down from the board of directors at the same time before rejoining it months later, Mr O’Donnell said.

Lockyer Enterprises also repurchased a stake back in the conglomerate.

Mr Lockyer declined to answer questions on the matter, saying he was restrained from doing so due to a confidentiality agreement.

He said his role at One Key was mostly focused on strategy.

“My skill set came from a background of team sports and performance,” he said.

“The performance of the employees out on site was my main focus.”

Asked about whether he attended directors’ meetings, Mr Lockyer said yes but “it was not like there was board papers presented to the directors”.

“It was just a catchup over the phone to discuss how it was travelling financially,” he said.

One Key Workforce was placed into voluntary administration after the Federal Court found its enterprise agreement with workers was void.

“When you became a director did you find whether the company had assets, which the company could use to pay its obligations?” Mr O’Donnell asked.

“At that point in time, the company was solvent,” Mr Lockyer responded.

The hearing continues on Monday.