Premier Peter Malinauskas has asked police to look at bikie links to CFMEU

Premier Peter Malinauskas has asked police to investigate bikie links to the CFMEU in SA, after secretary John Setka quit amid allegations gangs had infiltrated the organisation interstate.

Premier Peter Malinauskas has asked Police Commissioner Grant Stevens to investigate whether there are any links between the rogue CFMEU construction union and bikie gangs in South Australia.

The police investigation has been launched as one industry leader declared it would be “naive’’ to think the CFMEU did not use the same tactics in SA as it did interstate, while there were also calls for the union’s leadership to return to local hands.

CFMEU boss John Setka quit as head of the union Friday amid allegations surrounding the organisation’s connection with bikie gangs interstate. Mr Setka was secretary of the union’s SA, Victorian and Tasmanian divisions.

Mr Malinauskas, who is currently on leave, spoke to Mr Stevens Saturday morning about whether bikie gangs were involved in the SA construction industry.

John Setka announced he will step down from top job on Friday. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

The premier also posted on X that it was “my firm view that construction workers deserve to be represented by committed professionals, not people hanging out with bikie gangs’’.

A spokesperson for SA Police confirmed “the Police Commissioner has had a discussion with the Premier concerning the content of media reporting surrounding allegations that OMCG’s (outlaw motorcycle gangs) are infiltrating the construction industry’’.

The Age reported on Saturday that bikies had infiltrated major construction projects in Victoria and NSW and had been employed as union delegates, with one bikie-linked CFMEU official earning $250,000 a year.

In his resignation, Mr Setka said he leaves the top job knowing the union will be left in the “capable hands”. Picture: David Geraghty / The Australian.

Master Builders Federation SA chief executive Will Frogley said while he had no direct knowledge of bikie gangs being involved locally, ”you’d be pretty naive to think that they’d have a completely different approach in South Australia, given they’re governed by the same people’’.

“It’s definitely their strategy to get heavy, heavy looking people as delegates on every site that really run the site,’’ Mr Frogley said.

Mr Setka took over the SA branch in August 2022, with many in the industry worried that the trademark militant tactics employed by the CFMEU would hurt local construction companies.

Before he took over, Mr Setka had referred to the SA branch as “weak “c …”.

Mr Frogley said since Mr Setka’s takeover, increasing amounts of work were directed to Victorian companies aligned with the CFMEU at the expense of local businesses.

“The CFMEU really ensures that they get work on the big government jobs, and unfortunately, that’s leaving South Australian businesses out in the cold,’’ he said.

Infrastructure Minister Tom Koutsantonis said he had seen no direct evidence of bikie involment in local construction projects but was glad Mt Setka had resigned, and it was “appalling’’ that a Victorian branch controls an SA union.

He said if the police investigation uncovered and bikie links the government would “get them out of the industry’’.

Property Council SA executive director Bruce Djite said putting a local back in the branch would be a positive step.

“Sekta coming in really posed a risk that it would significantly damage the working environment here in South Australia,’’ he said. “So to see that individual now no longer there, hopefully between the CFMEU and the industry there’s a better understanding and we always support locals rather than interstaters ambushing the local market.’’

Opposition leader David Speirs called on Mr Malinauskas to ensure the CFMEU’s “legacy of intimidations, threatening behaviour and forceful disruption of worksites doesn’t live on in SA”.

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Originally published as Premier Peter Malinauskas has asked police to look at bikie links to CFMEU