Big Build companies’ ties to CFMEU under the microscope

Construction companies working on billions of dollars of public projects could be investigated over allegations of price fixing and forced union memberships raised in the Senate after the CFMEU’s incoming administrator pledged to root out corruption in the industry.

Independent senator Jacqui Lambie used parliamentary privilege on Monday to accuse major contractors including John Holland, CPB and Acciona of working with the CFMEU to inflate project prices, and alleged their workers were being made to take out $1200 union memberships.

Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt says the CFMEU’s administrator will investigate allegations against employers raised by senator Jacqui Lambie.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen, James Brickwood

Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt said on Tuesday that the incoming administrator, Mark Irving, KC, had made a written guarantee to probe any corporate wrongdoers in cahoots with the union.

“That corruption and organised crime doesn’t just involve the union,” Watt said. “Unfortunately, in some cases, it seems to have involved employers as well. What I’ve said throughout this process is that we need to make sure that just as we target bad behaviour at the union, we also target bad behaviour among employer groups.”

Federal Labor and the Coalition struck a deal on Monday night to pass a law giving an independent administrator control of the union for at least three years. Watt is yet to formally appoint Irving to the role, but Lambie said he would have no choice but to refer companies to the Fair Work Commission or Australian Federal Police.

“It’s going to be like a domino effect, and I would think that the government would want this looked at, and if those terms of reference need to be pushed out even further, then they will have no choice but to get to the bottom of this,” Lambie said on Tuesday. “I want to see those referrals to Australian Federal Police going as quickly as possible because, quite frankly, people’s lives are at risk.”

John Holland has worked on major infrastructure projects such as Sydney’s WestConnex Rozelle Interchange and the Metro Tunnel Project in Melbourne, while Acciona has worked on Sydney’s light rail and Melbourne’s M80 highway.

The firms named by Lambie in parliament did not respond to a request for comment, but CPB has had strikes at its Queensland projects and gone to court against the union in the state.

The administrator will have powers to investigate all state and territory branches of the CFMEU and can force union officers, employees and advisers to co-operate.

The move to force an administrator onto the CFMEU was in response to a litany of issues exposed in the Building Bad investigation by this masthead, The Australian Financial Review and 60 Minutes, including alleged corruption and bikie infiltration.

Greens leader Adam Bandt said the party had voted against the legislation to tip the union into administration on Monday because it undermined civil liberties, rejecting claims the Greens were courting union donors aligned with the CFMEU.

“We wanted safeguards in the legislation to ensure the problems were tackled, but in a way where procedural fairness was ensured, and instead the government worked with the Coalition,” Bandt said.

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