As it happened: Union members march in Sydney, Melbourne as CFMEU administrator vows to expel bikies

Good afternoon, and thanks for following our live coverage of today’s CFMEU rallies in Melbourne and Sydney.

If you’re just joining us, here are some highlights:

• Melbourne CFMEU members started their rally at Trades Hall today. CBD streets became a sea of high-vis as thousands made their way to Flagstaff Gardens.
• The Electrical Trades Union’s Victorian secretary Troy Gray was a key speaker at the Melbourne event. He said a proposed 72-hour stoppage could cripple construction in the state. “We put the industry on notice,” he said.

Tens of thousands of workers march through central Melbourne.Credit: Justin McManus

• Workplace Minister Murray Watt has not committed to intervening on the Electrical Trade Union’s threat of a wildcat strike.
• Gray also said bikies only represented a fraction of the total membership, and told a cheering Melbourne crowd: “There has been no better union official than John Setka.”
• Victoria Police said an estimated 25,000 people attended the rally in Melbourne and officers made no arrests.

• The CFMEU’s national secretary Zach Smith told the Melbourne crowd that while governments come and go, the union would “be here for another 170 years” and more.
• About 5000 CFMEU members and their comrades also downed tools in Sydney to rally at Belmore Park, where mounted police kept a watchful eye and chants of “union power” rang out.
• NSW Police said no arrests were made, with a superintendent telling this masthead that officers were primarily there for crowd control.

Workers march along Macquarie Street to NSW Parliament.Credit: James Brickwood

• The Sydney crowd marched to NSW Parliament, where ousted CFMEU state secretary Darren Greenfield said people had been “trying to muddy my name for 45 f---ing years”.
• CFMEU delegate Denis McNamara, who is accused of roughing up a Nine photographer outside a union meeting, called for “discipline” and “no abuse of media” during the march. He foreshadowed an “intensified struggle” against the federal government over the appointment of an administrator.
• Also in Sydney, union leader Paul McAleer claimed legislation that deposed the CFMEU’s leadership was undemocratic and “about handcuffing the fighting, militant trade union”.
• NSW Greens MP Abigail Boyd watched union leaders speak outside NSW Parliament.
• NSW Police is yet to determine how many people attended Sydney’s rally but has so far reported no arrests.

And that’s all for our live coverage of the CFMEU rallies today. Thanks for reading.

The leadership of CFMEU administrator Mark Irving has been backed by Workplace Minister Murray Watt.

This masthead reported Irving nominated three directors to the $94 billion superannuation fund Cbus, including union firebrand Paddy Crumlin, who last week railed against the union being placed into administration at a rally where a CFMEU official accused of bribery also gave a speech.

Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Murray Watt.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Asked at the National Press Club in Canberra about Irving appointing Crumlin, Watt backed the administrator’s decision.

“It’s worth remembering that the reason for Mark Irving appointing new people to the Cbus board was that he did remove three existing Cbus directors who had CFMEU affiliations. It’s a matter for him who he chooses to represent workers,” Watt said.

“We’re a Labor government, we support workers having a say on their retirement savings through having directors on boards. I think one thing that a lot of people have not recognised is that one of Mark Irving’s roles is now effectively to be the union, he’s the administrator of the union.

“His job is to represent the interests of union members and if he makes choices about who to appoint to the roles, it’s a matter for him.”

Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt has backed Labor’s move to put the CFMEU into administration, staring down thousands of demonstrators who marched through Sydney and Melbourne today supporting the construction union’s ousted leadership.

Taking questions from the media after his National Press Club address this afternoon, Watt was asked if he had misjudged the mood of his party’s trade union base given some demonstrators supporting the CFMEU had told reporters at rallies today they won’t be voting for Labor at the next election.

Here’s how Watt responded, edited for length and clarity:

The first point is that we haven’t done this based on what we have decided was politically convenient to do, or not. We did it because it was the right thing to do.

There is no way that any government of any political persuasion could have ignored the allegations that we’ve seen come through the media – and congratulations to the media for their work on that – and not take action.

But, again, as I said in my speech, we’re not targeting CFMEU members or union members or construction workers at all. We’re doing this to ensure that their union gets back to its job, which is representing the interests of those workers.

You know, I saw on 60 Minutes the other night, a long-serving CFMEU official – I’ve forgotten if he was an official or a delegate – who was scathing about some of the stuff that has gone on there. So, we’re not concerned about the politics, of it. We’re concerned about doing the right thing.

And I noticed Brisbane rally yesterday was significantly smaller in number than the last one. We want to get this union back to what it should be doing which is putting forward the interests of its members.”

Workplace Minister Murray Watt has not committed to intervene over the Victorian branch of the Electrical Trade Union (ETU) threatening a wildcat strike.

Earlier at the Melbourne CFMEU protest, ETU Victorian secretary Troy Gray flagged an escalation of industrial action, warning of an upcoming 72-hour stoppage that would cripple construction in the state.

Minister Murray Watt speaking at the National Press Club of Australia on Wednesday.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Asked at the National Press Club in Canberra if the government would intervene, Watt said it was the first he heard of it, and he would need to make considerations. Here’s his full quote:

“You know, workers have got rights to take protected action under our legislation and ... it’s a matter for Mr Gray, how he chooses to describe those kind of things.

I feel that the role that I’ve got in this is ensuring that workers continue to get paid fairly, that we have safe … workplaces for construction workers to go to, that employers can negotiate without fears of violence and intimidation, that workers and unions can negotiate free of fear of union violence and intimidation.

That’s what our focus is, and speaking to the members directly about what we’re doing, what the administrator is doing, to ensure that their rights are respected.

This is not an exercise in trying to strip people’s rights. This is an exercise, actually, in building a better and more effective construction union that properly represents the interests of those amendments.”

Both the Melbourne and Sydney rallies have now dispersed, and we’ve got more photos in from our photographers on the ground.

Take a look at our updated gallery below.

NSW Greens MP Abigail Boyd joined CFMEU protesters outside state parliament, as union delegates warned of a looming “war” over deposed leaders.

As the thousands-strong crowd thinned under the stern midday sun in Sydney, CFMEU delegate Denis McNamara said the Albanese government was coming after workers.

The CFMEU rally in Sydney.Credit: James Brickwood

“Stop the f---ing war on workers, and that’s how we have to treat it,” McNamara said.

“We are in a war, and that’s how we have to treat it. So get ready.”

Amid criticisms of the Greens’ support for the CFMEU, Boyd watched union leaders speak outside parliament.

The Sydney rally is now dispersing.

CFMEU delegate Denis McNamara has foreshadowed an “intensified struggle” against the federal government over the appointment of an administrator.

McNamara, who allegedly roughed up an AFR photographer last week, claimed the CFMEU would emerge “stronger” despite union leaders being barred from office for five years.

CFMEU protesters in Sydney on Wednesday.Credit: James Brickwood

McNamara said the CFMEU would no longer be constrained by Labor or the Australian Council Of Trade Unions while it withheld donations to the party and trade unions council.

“We’ve never seen anything like it in this country before, I said it in the last rally, and I’ll say it again. I can sum it up in one word: fascism,” he said.

“So what we have to do, we have to hope for the best in that court, but we have to prepare for the workers. We have to get ready for more struggle, for an intensified struggle.”

Electrical Trades Union Victorian secretary Troy Gray has flagged an escalation of industrial action, warning of an upcoming 72-hour stoppage that would cripple construction in the state.

“If there is a continued attack on the working conditions and the living standards of Victorian construction workers for the building industry group of unions, we will call a third rally, and that third rally will be on a Wednesday, and there’ll be a call for a 72-hour stoppage,” Gray said.

“We put the industry on notice. Victorian construction workers are some of the most productive and most efficient construction workers anywhere in the world. If you want to f--- with us, we will f--- with you.”

Thousands of protesters joined Wednesday’s rally in Melbourne.Credit: Jason South

The thousands-strong crowd in Melbourne is now dispersing and headed to a pub.

Earlier at the rally in the Flagstaff Gardens, Jasmine, a CFMEU worker who joined the industry 18 months ago, was one of few women to address the crowd.

Protesters in Melbourne today.Credit: Justin McManus

She said the EBA would help members stay afloat in the cost of living crisis.

“It’s the ability to send our kids to better schools, give us the peace of mind to know that we’re going to be able to feed our families, pay our rent and pay our mortgages,” Jasmine said.

Ousted CFMEU NSW secretary Darren Greenfield has addressed the Sydney rally as it settles outside state parliament.

“Everything we do, every decision we’ve made, is to benefit our members,” he said.

Darren Greenfield speaking at CFMEU rally in Sydney out the front of NSW Parliament House.Credit: Nick Moir

Greenfield, before leading a chant of “union power”, said people had been “trying to muddy my name for 45 f---ing years”.

Greenfield, 56, and his son Michael, 36, were the secretary and assistant secretary of the construction union until last month.

That was despite the pair being arrested in September 2021 and charged with soliciting and accepting payments in exchange for preferential treatment to a building company.

Thousands of raucous union-allied protesters outside parliament are decrying MPs and the federal government-appointed CFMEU administrator.

Union leader Paul McAleer claimed legislation that deposed the CFMEU’s leadership was undemocratic.

“These laws were never about criminality. There is not a single guilty union official of the CFMEU. It is about handcuffing the fighting, militant trade union,” McAleer said.

The claims came despite Geoffrey Watson, KC, appointed by the CFMEU’s national secretary Zach Smith, substantiating allegations of criminality contained in this masthead’s Breaking Bad series.

“We will never trust the [Australian Labor Party] again. We will never trust the [Australian Council Of Trade Unions] again,” McAleer said.

We have photographers on the ground at both the Sydney and Melbourne rallies.

Here’s some of their shots so far below.

Protesters have just arrived at NSW Parliament in Sydney, while in Melbourne, protesters have begun arriving at Flagstaff Gardens in the city with a sea of orange and yellow against the grass.

Some have attended the Melbourne march with their children, and others have brought their dogs.