Death threats and private security, life in a CFMEU under administration

It’s been nearly five months since investigative journalist Nick McKenzie broke one of the biggest stories of the year, and exposed what he called “an unholy alliance” between gangland figures, and one of the most powerful labour unions in the country.

He revealed that the CFMEU had become a fiefdom in which bikies and stand-over men, among others, were given positions of power on building sites - many of them government-funded projects.

The culture they created was toxic and now, the saga is at a critical juncture.

Today, Nick McKenzie, on the Morning Edition podcast, talks about the legal pushback in the form of a High Court challenge. And also, the illegal resistance to the clean-out, including a possible death threat aimed at the administrator, who now has private security.

Also on the podcast, hosted by Samantha Selinger-Morris, McKenzie speaks to whether anyone in power will be held to account for turning a blind eye.

To listen to the episode, click the player above, or scroll down for an edited extract.

Selinger-Morris: Mark Irving, the administrator, he’s actually been warned by police that he was to be the subject of a death threat. He’s now being shielded by private security in a bid to try and keep him safe. So, can you tell us a bit about Mark Irving? Who is he? What’s he like? And, I mean, does he have the right stuff to combat what is essentially an entrenched culture?

McKenzie: Well, Mark Irving is a lifelong union member. He’s a senior barrister who’s practised in industrial relations.

Does he have the ability to fight all these very powerful forces? From organised crime, to the challenges within the union movement itself that want to see him undone?

This is a bloke living under a huge amount of pressure. He’s promised in his public comments so far, he’ll operate without fear or favour. The proof will be in the pudding, though.

Administrator Marking Irving, centre, has been forced to hire private security as he faces pressure, and danger, in his task to clean-up the CFMEU.Credit: Joe Armao

He’s certainly talented. He’s certainly got guts. He certainly, at the moment, decided to stick around despite copping threats, despite being warned by the police that there was a plot to direct a death threat to him, to shake him. He’s got private security tailing him to keep him and his family safe. It’s a dangerous job, he’s taken on.

How does a barrister take on a bikie club, investigate a bikie club’s infiltration of a state government project? If he’s willing to do that, and I think he is, is he gutsy enough to go and say, what did the state government know about these projects?

Selinger-Morris: Do you actually have any hopes for government accountability in all of this? Because I was quite surprised, I guess, that Victoria’s anti-corruption agency hasn’t actually approached your team for information since it was tasked with the investigation. Were you surprised?

McKenzie: There’s an old saying in government, never call an inquiry that you don’t already know the outcome of. And I think we see governments doing this all the time, where they create such narrow terms of reference, or give an issue to an agency they know doesn’t have the jurisdiction to investigate. So they can be confident the full truth will never come out. And right now, there’s a huge amount of political arse-covering going on in this space. And frankly, it’s really disappointing.