‘Zero tolerance’ rhetoric over the CFMEU follows years of wilful blindness

Politicians and unionists have lined up in recent days to declare their lack of tolerance for bad behaviour in the construction industry and its dominant union, the CFMEU.

Faced with a devastating and growing stream of revelations from a joint investigation from The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian Financial Review and 60 Minutes about the rotten culture at the CFMEU, they had little choice.

Unfortunately for the nation, its construction workers and the broader public, tolerance is exactly what Labor and the broader union movement have granted the CFMEU for years. Alongside tolerance, there has been indulgence, hubris, gratitude (for massive donations) and a lack of political will.

The evidence of the union’s true condition was readily available but, finally, could not be ignored thanks to the remarkable reporting by Nick McKenzie, Ben Schneiders and David Marin-Guzman.

In just one example, in June, the Herald reported a federal court judge putting the tally of the CFMEU’s proven or admitted contraventions of the Fair Work Act since 2010 at 170 across no fewer than 50 proceedings. How’s that for plain sight?

Or how about the union’s official hoodies featuring the words “scab hunter” accompanied by a man with a shotgun? It’s for sale on the CFMEU’s website and can be seen on publicly funded worksites around the country.

It’s little wonder people attracted to being in an outlaw motorcycle gang would see common cause with the CFMEU.

And they often don’t hide it, the bikies highlighted in the weekend’s reporting declare their pride at CFMEU involvement on social media.

The truth is Labor, both the party and the movement, has for far too long ignored the CFMEU’s intimidatory, thuggish antics.

The overdue departure of John Setka solves little; the fact that he lasted this long underscores how little appetite there was to tackle the union.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese cut him loose from Labor years ago. The ACTU demanded his resignation. Nothing changed – if anything, the situation deteriorated.

Even with Setka gone, what remains is a union beset by a culture of lawlessness and intimidation and a failure to accept its shortcomings.

Even as Industrial Relations Minister Tony Burke, Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan, NSW Premier Chris Minns and others declared bikies had no place as union officials, the CFMEU’s national branch was insisting, still, that everyone deserves a second chance.

Burke says all options are on the table but in the same breath puts the onus on the union to act before he will. What more needs to be put in front of a minister to warrant action of his own volition, particularly when so much federal money is involved?

The federal government should use its powers to immediately install an independent administrator over the CFMEU. Beyond that, deregistration must be in the mix. If that power is not for this sort of conduct, then for what purpose does it exist?

The ACTU has been little better. Sally McManus would have us believe she was shocked by the conduct on display in the investigation, yet for years she has sought to minimise the CFMEU’s incessant infractions as legitimate resistance against bad laws, fighting the good fight for safety.

She conceded the obvious on Monday that people facing criminal allegations should not be leading unions – well, the investigation into Victoria’s Derek Christopher and the charges against NSW’s Darren Greenfield, which are not proven and he is contesting, are not new.

Where was this principled stand, echoed by Allan and Minns, before our reporting over the weekend?

Minns also declared that if bad behaviour emerged in his state, he stood ready to address it. That is, he is happily poised on his heels waiting for questions, rather than seeking answers.

It is time for all those who looked the other way for so long to act. Public tolerance is exhausted.

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