The Australian Financial Review’s Building Bad investigation indicates the CFMEU and the construction industry cannot be managed through existing arrangements or traditional policing. The recent regulatory action under the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) arrangements should be compared to the action taken when the industry was policed by the Australian Building and Construction Commission.

The ABCC had more than 200 successful prosecutions with a 90 per cent success rate. It resulted in more than $18 million in penalties imposed by the courts around Australia. Those fines for unlawful behaviour against unions such as the CFMEU were invariably paid out of the contributions of hard-working members.