Zach Smith says CFMEU has 'corruption problems', in leaked meeting details
Leaked details of a closed CFMEU meeting have revealed some damning insights into the plagued union, with Victorian executive officer Zach Smith saying it faces its most “vulnerable position” in decades.
EXCLUSIVE: Leaked details of a closed CFMEU meeting have revealed that Victorian executive officer Zach Smith said there were “corruption problems” at the union, as he warned of an impending wave of redundancies.
Mr Smith also apologised for organising for a third party to meet with underworld figure Mick Gatto in an address to shop stewards in Melbourne.
“If we’re being honest with ourselves, we would acknowledge that there were real problems at this branch prior to administration, unfortunately those problems included corruption,” he said.
Mr Smith added that the union was in “the most vulnerable position in our time since the deregistration of the BLF” (Builders Labourers Federation) in 1986.
He warned that if the union was deregistered now, it would mean the “loss of conditions that has taken us 100 years to build up.”
Mr Smith also announced that he had “reopened voluntary redundancies for a number of days”.
His comments come after his predecessor John Setka was arrested earlier this week for threatening staff at the administrator that was appointed last year following claims organised crime had infiltrated the union.
Police seized his mobile phone and iPad during a raid at his home in a luxury apartment block in Footscray.
There is no suggestion that either Mr Setka or Mr Smith were involved in corruption.
Mr Smith was appointed as Victorian secretary after Mr Setka stepped down in the days before the union was put into administration.
He spoke candidly with shop stewards about problems at the union, including how he had “put the union at risk by agreeing to send an organiser to meet Mick Gatto”.
Mr Smith also addressed the dismissal of construction organiser John Perkovic, who was accused in a statement by the union’s administrator Mark Irving, KC, of “accepting a series of bribes”.
“I was on leave when I heard the news about John Perkovic, it was 3.30 in the morning, I was in a hotel in Geneva and it was the day that he was terminated,” he said.
“I was devastated, genuinely devastated. I was at a loss about what to do next and about how we respond as a branch and as a union to these never ending stories dragging us down.”
A number linked to Mr Perkovic indicated on Friday that its “message bank was full”.
Police laid 21 charges against Steven Deer, 62, who was head of the union’s training centre in Port Melbourne for allegations of fraudulent invoicing dating back to 2024, which Mr Smith addressed at the meeting.
Mr Smith also spoke about the departure of union official Steve Long, who was influential in the crane division.
“Everyone knows here that Steven’s commitment to the union is unquestionable,” he said.
“Longy made the decision that it was his time to go and in doing so he only wants to see this union go from success to success.”
There is no suggestion that Mr Long was involved in any wrongdoing.
When Mr Long was asked about his resignation on Friday he said: “Oh, please mate, no comment”.
The CFMEU was approached for comment.
More Coverage
Read related topics:CFMEU
