Police condemn alleged bikie involvement in CFMEU

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton says the probe into alleged bikie links within the militant CFMEU’s construction branch could take up to a month.

Detectives could take up to a month to assess claims there are criminal links within the CFMEU’s Victorian construction branch.

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said he had received a letter from Premier Jacinta Allan in the wake of the explosive allegations, which included claims of a bikie using a government-issued vehicle to drive themselves to hospital following a shooting and “undue influence” over major construction contracts.

“Thuggery and bullying are obviously inappropriate conduct on any worksite or (at) any workplace,” Mr Patton said.

“They’re not criminal behaviour, and that’s the issue for us. While this conduct is obviously totally inappropriate, it will be for us to step through and for our detective to step through and see whether or not it actually meets a criminal threshold.

Victorian Chief Commissioner of Police Shane Patton, says it could take up to a month for detectives to probe the allegations regarding the CFMEU. Picture: David Crosling

“We’ll make a report and we’ll close that loop back to government and tell them what the outcome is once we’ve done that.”

Mr Patton said a task force could be established if investigators found the claims were substantiated.

“We’re still conducting that assessment at the moment.”

When asked whether he was concerned about bikies’ involvement in the construction sector, Mr Patton said he was concerned, but “not at all surprised” by the claims.

“I’m concerned about bikie involvement in any organisation”.

“They’re tied up with organised crime and they shouldn’t be involved in any organisations at all, let alone in any union.

“The reports of the last few days don’t surprise me at all.

“The tentacles of organised crime and outlaw motorcycle gang members stretch everywhere.

“All they’re interested in is money, and they will reach in anywhere and so what we’ve seen in the last couple of days does not surprise me in the slightest.”

A dedicated police taskforce could be set up to investigate potential criminal activity within the CFMEU. Picture: Ian Currie

He said police had general intelligence that suggested some crime figures were involved in several industries, but remained tight-lipped about which individuals their investigations involved.

Mr Patton said he believed proposed anti-association laws would stamp out links between bikies and other organised criminals.

“If we find one of these people is involved in criminal conduct, we’ll interview them and charge them as appropriate,” he said.

“I’m very comfortable if we can hold some outlaw motorcycle gang members to account and charge them offences, that’s a good day.”

In the letter – which was sent more than a year after the Premier was first made aware of the allegations – she said the Director General of the Major Transport Infrastructure Authority (MTIA) had raised concerns about potential criminal activity on major projects during a routine meeting.

Ms Allan said she was “advised that the MTIA was anecdotally aware of a small number of possible criminal incidents on government infrastructure projects”.

She, however, told Mr Patton that investigations to “obtain further information about this risk” had not found “widespread” misconduct.

“I am advised that consideration of these matters has not found any evidence of systemic, widespread, or organised criminal activity on MTIA worksites,” she said.