The construction wing of the CFMEU is facing investigations into alleged corruption and criminal links in its Queensland, New South Wales and South Australian branches and a further inquiry in Victoria backed by new coercive powers, after its interim administrator accepted the findings of an initial investigation in full.
Responding on Tuesday to an interim investigation conducted by barrister Geoffrey Watson SC into the CFMEU’s combined Victorian and Tasmanian branch, administrator Mark Irving KC accepted all seven of Watson’s recommendations, including that alleged links to outlaw motorcycle gangs and other organised crime be further investigated.
Irving said he considered the matters “to be of the utmost seriousness and concern” and had provided Watson with coercive powers to continue his examination of the union’s combined south-eastern-states branch. He said Watson’s report shed light on “a cycle of lawlessness where violence was an acceptable part of the culture and that “the CFMEU has lost control”.
Irving noted that Watson was constrained by limited terms of reference, being restricted to events in Victoria, and lacking powers to compel evidence or promise confidentiality.
“I am not constrained by any of these limitations,” Irving said in his response.
He has asked Watson to continue, backed by Irving’s own coercive powers, and to present a “comprehensive” report by 1 December.
“I have decided to establish an Integrity Unit within my Administration to systematically investigate the mounting number of allegations that have been and continue to be raised with me,” Irving’s response said.
Initiating detailed investigations into CFMEU branches in Queensland, NSW and South Australia, he said he had also established an anonymous whistleblower service to enable CFMEU members, delegates and employees – and others in the construction industry – to report wrongdoing.
“I am of the view that members of outlaw motorcycle gangs and those connected with organised crime should not play any role in industrial relations in the construction industry, whether on the side of employees or the side of the employer,” Irving said, vowing to “make it so”.
In his report made public on Monday, Watson said he had uncovered information which “supported the accuracy of the allegations of criminal and corrupt conduct” contained in a series of reports in Nine newspapers and on the 60 Minutes program. CFMEU national secretary Zach Smith commissioned Watson’s review, prior to the union being placed into administration.
“Based on the information uncovered during my investigation, the Victorian branch has been caught up in a cycle of lawlessness, where violence was an accepted part of the culture, and threats of violence were a substitute for reasoned negotiations,” Watson’s report said.
Arising from Watson’s preliminary work, Mark Irving said he intended to initiate a broader investigation into the operation of labour hire, starting in Victoria, including the circumstances in which agreements had been reached, any illegal payments, and the influence of bikie gangs.
It would also examine the appropriateness of using labour hire to engage “a large section of the construction workforce”.
The new investigations in the other states will also examine alleged corruption and bikie gang links, along with the alleged payment of “kick-backs”, use of charity trusts and multiple accounts, menacing, threatening and violent behaviour and sexual harassment of female delegates.
“The initiation of these investigations does not presuppose that those whose conduct will be examined have committed any civil or criminal wrong,” Irving’s response said. “They are investigations to discover the facts.”
