NSW MPs loyal to embattled CFMEU revealed after Minns calls for union boss to go
The scandal-plagued CFMEU has close ties to a number of Labor MPs including two who have praised embattled secretary Darren Greenfield since he was charged with bribery offences.
NSW
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A Labor MP who was dumped as a parliamentary secretary after sensationally lashing out at the NSW Police is among a handful of state Labor politicians loyal to the NSW CFMEU, led by a man charged with accepting a series of bribes.
Another MP might not be in parliament but for the CFMEU’s construction division, after state secretary Darren Greenfield campaigned for Cameron Murphy to be preselected in a winnable position at the Upper House ticket at the last election.
Despite Premier Chris Minns calling on CFMEU NSW Secretary Darren Greenfield to be dumped while he awaits trial for a series of bribery offences, Mr Minns has not taken action against the construction union which is closely linked to a number of his MPs.
One CFMEU-backed MP, Anthony D’Adam, was sacked as a parliamentary secretary in May after he launched an incendiary attack on the NSW Police, likening officers to an “occupying force”.
Mr Greenfield and the CFMEU’s construction wing later explosively called for Mr D’Adam to be reinstated.
“The CFMEU stands behind Anthony D’Adam,” the union posted on Instagram.
Another MP backed by the union, Upper House MP Cameron Murphy, owes his election in large part to support from CFMEU’s construction wing. The union backed Mr Murphy in a bloody intra-factional dispute at Labor’s 2022 conference.
Mr Murphy earlier this year broke ranks to criticise bail reforms designed to crack down on regional youth crime.
Mr D’Adam and Mr Murphy have both declared their public support for Mr Greenfield in the years after he was charged with bribery offences, after allegedly accepting a series of $5,000 kickbacks from a construction company.
Court documents reveal Mr Greenfield has been charged with four offences of receiving or soliciting a corrupting benefit, from 2018 to 2020. He was arrested and charged in September 2021.
His son, CFMEU NSW Assistant Secretary Michael Greenfield, is also facing bribery charges.
Both men are before the courts and denied wrongdoing.
Their ALP memberships were suspended in 2021 following an intervention from the premier, but they have retained their union roles.
The CFMEU’s national secretary Zach Smith on Tuesday raised the proverbial middle finger to Premier Chris Minns, who has called on Mr Greenfield to be stood down as the NSW Secretary while he is before the court.
Australian Council of Trade Unions boss Sally McManus also called for the CFMEU to boot officials charged with criminal offences while investigations are underway.
Neither Mr Murphy nor Mr D’Adam returned calls on Tuesday.
UnionsNSW boss Mark Morey refused to comment when asked if he agreed with Mr Minns or Ms McManus.
Mr Smith doubled down on his defence of Mr Greenfield, saying it “hardly seems reasonable” that the NSW Secretary should be stood down while before the courts.
“It has now been … approximately three years and there still has not been a committal hearing. In those circumstances it hardly seems reasonable to stand someone (down),” Mr Smith told ABC Radio National.
The Nine Newspapers reported on Tuesday that the federal government was set to appoint an independent administrator of the union.
The militant construction union has long been subject to scandal. In 2022, The Daily Telegraph revealed that one union troublemaker was taken to court six times by the now-abolished Australian Building and Construction Commission.
In 2023, the Telegraph reported that the body Labor appointed to oversee the building industry after abolishing the ABCC had not started a single case against the CFMEU as of May.
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