Frank Pangallo MLC calls out government over silence on police union amid CFMEU probe

The government has been accused of a ‘blatant double standard’ as senior figures remain silent on assault allegations against the new police association boss.

The state government has been accused of “a blatant double standard” after Premier Peter Malinauskas immediately raised concerns about potential links between bikies and the CFMEU – but he and senior ministers have stayed silent on indecent assault allegations levelled against the head of the police union.

Mr Malinauskas, who is currently on leave, over the weekend asked Police Commissioner Grant Stevens to investigate whether there are any links between the CFMEU construction union and bikie gangs in South Australia.

It came after CFMEU boss John Setka quit as head of the union on Friday amid allegations surrounding the organisation’s connection with bikie gangs interstate.

In a post on X, Mr Malinauskas said “it is my firm view that construction workers deserve to be represented by committed professionals, not people hanging out with bikie gangs”.

“Bikie gangs don’t belong in the labour movement, full stop. If there is any established connection, then get them out!”

But the government has not weighed in on the crisis currently engulfing the Police Association of SA (PASA) amid allegations of indecent assault levelled against newly-elected president Wade Burns.

It is my firm view that construction workers deserve to be represented by committed professionals, not people hanging out with bikie gangs.

Bikie gangs don’t belong in the labour movement full stop. If there is any established connection, then get them out!

— Peter Malinauskas (@PMalinauskasMP) July 13, 2024

Mr Stevens has confirmed a criminal investigation was commenced into the 2017 incident but the matter was not referred for prosecution on the wishes of the alleged victim.

Mr Burns accepted a set of agreed facts and was demoted as part of an internal investigation but, several years later, he was reinstated to the rank of inspector when he successfully appealed a SA Police decision not to promote him.

Last week, after a request for comment on a push by delegates for Mr Burns to stand down, Police Minister Dan Cregan again refused to offer a view.

“The leadership of a union is always rightly a matter for its members,” he said.

Independent MLC Frank Pangallo, who a month ago used parliamentary privilege to reveal the allegations against Mr Burns, accused the government of “a blatant double standard”.

“The government can’t dismiss what’s happening at PASA as a matter for the union to deal with when it so readily got involved in what’s going on at the CFMEU,” he said on Monday.

Police Association president Wade Burns addressed members in a video, dismissing the allegations against him aired in parliament.

“You’d have to say that they are hypocritical, and it’s particularly staggering when they have a royal commission underway into domestic, family and sexual violence against women.

“Is the premier really serious about that royal commission when the government is turning a blind eye to the conduct of a powerful union?”

Mr Pangallo said he would this week write to Mr Malinauskas and Mr Cregan requesting that the current police enterprise bargaining negotiation process be immediately suspended until full public disclosures are made about Mr Burns’ conduct.

“This issue is not going to go away,” he said.

“It would not be tolerated in any other workplace.”

Mr Burns has not responded to requests for comment but, in a video message circulated last week, dismissed the allegations as “an internal workplace matter that was dealt with many years ago”.

A government spokesman said “it is not the role of government, as the employer of police officers, to decide who is the leader of the police union”.

“That is a decision for the union’s members through its internal processes,” he said.