‘Cut off the head, the tentacles still in place’: CFMEU veteran lashes corruption clean up

A veteran CFMEU figure who has previously faced threats of violence has warned corruption in the NSW construction industry was “more aggressive than ever” and that the Labor-backed administration was failing to stop it.

Construction industry stalwart Mario Barrios, a CFMEU delegate for 38 years and a member of the union’s NSW branch committee of management for 28 years, was adamant that corruption had “definitely” spread through the construction industry in Sydney.

Mario Barrios was a former long-serving top unionist at the CFMEU.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

Barrios, who was a decade ago threatened with violence after confronting infamous and now-jailed building company boss George Alex, said the police and the CFMEU’s government-appointed administrator appeared incapable of tackling the industry’s problems.

“There are a number of credible allegations made by some subcontractors or union members to the NSW administrators and no response or investigation has taken place,” Barrios said.

His comments came as the Albanese and Victorian governments scrambled to respond to the latest allegations raised in this masthead and on 60 Minutes of union and gangland wrongdoing on government sites.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton challenged the government to introduce national racketeering laws to tackle allegations of CFMEU corruption, describing the latest revelations about the union as “the biggest corruption scandal in our country’s history”.

Dutton said he would argue for the union to be disbanded when parliament sat next week as he pushes the Albanese government to pass laws that ensure police could charge criminals in organisations that show a pattern of law-breaking behaviour.

Barrios no longer holds any formal union roles but remains an industry activist aligned with a faction strongly opposed to former secretary Darren Greenfield, who is facing criminal charges of taking bribes.

He declined to talk about Greenfield’s legal case, other than attacking the previous union executive’s decision to use members’ money to fund Greenfield’s defence.

Asked if fear still ruled the industry, Barrios said: “The simple answer is yes. Ask that poor organiser whose ute was firebombed [earlier this year] with his wife and children inside the house metres away.”

The torched ute belonged to a CFMEU organiser.

Barrios slammed what he described as “a lack of decisive action in cleaning up the elements that are still following instruction from the old leaders.”

He also said organised crime was drawn to the sector because of the ease with which building firm owners can rort their tax obligations and underpay workers by phoenixing companies.

Barrios said he met with an AFP taskforce a decade ago and briefed them on the problems that exist today, but he said the agency’s promise to introduce him to the tax office never occurred.

He called for significant legislative reform and heavy penalties for those who encouraged corruption or pushed for organised crime on building sites.

The CFMEU was placed into administration last year after the Building Bad investigation by the Herald, The Australian Financial Review and 60 Minutes, which found underworld figures had infiltrated the union and fomented a culture of fear and intimidation.

He rated the effectiveness of the administration in NSW a “generous four out of 10” and he was scathing of the failure of the branch to investigate allegations of corruption or to follow up with whistleblowers.

“Certainly, the administrator [in NSW] is not making companies or individuals feel confident that anything will change,” he said. “The administrator has cut the head of the octopus but the tentacles are still in place.”

Bikie boxing and souvlaki days

In Victoria, Labor’s Big Build project subcontractors have been pressured to fund an outlaw motorcycle gang-linked boxing promotion company and a bikie-controlled souvlaki day as part of rackets run with impunity on state government project sites.

The sponsorship by major Big Build subcontractors of the Hardcore Promotions boxing and kickboxing company involves most of the labour hire firms that have supplied thousands of workers over several years across a number of projects, earning tens of millions of taxpayer dollars.

Johnny Walker fighting in a recent bout with posts showing MC Labour’s logo.Credit: Instagram

Two firms who paid so-called “sponsorship” money to Hardcore Promotions said they did so begrudgingly and to secure industrial peace and CFMEU support on the Big Build. The companies spoke anonymously due to concerns about repercussions.

In the first half of 2023, Big Build subcontractors were separately pressured to fund a catering day by the same gangland figure who was behind the Hardcore Promotions sponsorship demands, Joel Leavitt.

Leavitt is a bikie standover man and a former union health and safety representative on the Hurstbridge Rail Upgrade and the Melbourne Metro Tunnel project.

Joel Leavitt, Johnny Walker and Marc Gelsi.

On Sunday, the chief investigator for the CFMEU administration, Geoffrey Watson, SC, described Leavitt’s placement on the Big Build as “the single worst instance” of gangland infiltration he had so far uncovered and a “very black moment in the history of the CFMEU”.

“He’s an extremely violent criminal with a bad record,” said Watson, describing how Big Build workers and subcontractors knew that Leavitt and his associates were not mere bikies but “baseball-bat-wielding violent people”.

Watson also attacked the Allan government for covering up the extent of Big Build wrongdoing and failing to examine properly how much the state government knew of the problems across the mega infrastructure scheme in its so-called Wilson report.

A paper trail sighted by this masthead reveals that in March 2023, Leavitt used his status as union delegate to request Labor’s Southern Program Alliance, the conglomerate of private and public entities building rail projects, support his request for a union-backed catering day.

SPA asked Leavitt to provide three invoices, but it was Big Build subcontractors that ultimately paid Leavitt for the food he supplied as part of a racket from which police suspect Leavitt pocketed thousands of dollars.

In November, Victoria Police detectives secretly requested SPA and the CFMEU hand over any records about the catering event.

But in a development that reveals the limits of police action, detectives recently disclosed to witnesses they were abandoning their investigation, having concluded it would be too difficult to obtain evidence from subcontractors to sustain a prosecution.

“We don’t have the resources or ability to run it through court,” said a law enforcement source, granted anonymity to discuss confidential information.

Evidence also suggests that Leavitt is involved in Hardcore Promotions, taking a key role in running the firm and organising its fights, including a recent event won by ex-bikie and former Big Build health and safety representative Jonny “Two Guns” Walker.

In two videos posted in February by Walker, who, like Leavitt, was forced off the Big Build but only after media revelations, he appeared to acknowledge Leavitt’s involvement in the company.

“Hardcore Promotions, Make Gelsi Joel Leavitt, I love youse and thanks for giving me this opportunity to get back in the ring again.”

According to Big Build subcontractors, Leavitt made repeated approaches to pressure them to sponsor Hardcore Promotions fight nights, paying thousands of dollars to purchase tickets or obtain sponsorship rights.

The names of major Big Build subcontractors adorn the ring at Hardcore events.

Among Hardcore’s sponsors is MC Labour, which has deep ties to infamous gangland figures such as ex-bikie boss Toby Mitchell. It is separately embroiled in the ongoing ghost shift scandal on the Metro Tunnel.

Illustration by Matt Golding

Asked why MC Labour had sponsored a number of Hardcore Promotions events, a spokesman for the company said: “We routinely purchase tickets to sporting and entertainment events, such as the Australian Open and the Luke Combs concert, for our clients and employees.”

The company said it did not believe buying tickets to the events was an endorsement of the owners’ “activities or beliefs”.

“In purchasing tickets to this event, we were not aware of any affiliations that this promotions company may have,” the statement said.

The spokesman made no comments in response to questions about sponsorship.

Leavitt continues to leverage his connections in the building sector and in the CFMEU to stand over players in the construction industry. Evidence suggests Leavitt attended a meeting with Walker and Mick Gatto late last year to mediate a dispute involving Big Build-linked identities.

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