Labor-linked judge in government sights to take over CFMEU

A judge being considered to lead the clean-up of the scandal-plagued CFMEU once ran as a Labor candidate and has a long history of representing trade unions in legal disputes.

Three sources familiar with high-level talks inside the government and union movement, who were not authorised to speak about internal discussions, said NSW Supreme Court Justice Stephen Rothman was among candidates being discussed as a potential administrator.

The government on Wednesday asked the Fair Work Commission to look at applying to a court to put the union into administration.Credit: Peter Braig

Rothman was a Labor candidate for the seat of Wentworth in 1984 and contested Labor preselection for the seat of Dobell in 2003. He is an eminent lawyer who has previously represented unions, including the old Building Workers’ Industrial Union, in court, and was a founding member of the International Centre for Trade Union Rights. As a barrister, Rothman was obligated to accept work in his areas of expertise when available.

The government on Wednesday asked the Fair Work Commission to look at applying to a court to put the union into administration after media revelations the CFMEU had been infiltrated by organised crime.

NSW Supreme Court Justice Stephen Rothman.Credit: Internet

The fallout from the investigation by The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian Financial Review and 60 Minutes continued on Thursday, with the Labor Party uncoupling itself from the union’s construction division in four states and banning donations and affiliation fees.

The CFMEU’s NSW branch joined Queensland in opposing government intervention.

“Stand up and defend your union,” the NSW division posted on its Facebook page. “External forces attacking the CFMEU have one agenda only: to reduce your collective power through the union to win better wages and conditions.”

Staff at the ACTU were told to work from home as a precaution after the union movement’s peak body suspended the CFMEU from its ranks on Wednesday.

“In an abundance of caution, as a health and safety measure, we yesterday advised staff to work from home,” a spokesperson told this masthead.

A senior industrial relations source said the government was so far struggling to find an appropriate administrator, though the decision would be formally made by the Fair Work Commission.

This masthead revealed in February that Labor had nominated Rothman late last year to become a deputy commissioner of the National Anti-Corruption Commission before his name was pulled due to concerns over his Labor links.

In the late 1980s, the International Labour Organisation selected him to advise the Soviet Union and Mikhail Gorbachev on attempts to establish free trade unions.

Coalition industrial relations spokeswoman Michaelia Cash said whoever was appointed as administrator “should be completely independent with no present or previous union or political affiliations”.

“Australians need to have complete confidence in the processes involved and that includes no actual or perceived political conflicts,” she said.

Rothman was contacted for comment.

The Labor Party’s national executive voted on Thursday morning to suspend the CFMEU from the NSW, Victorian, South Australian and Tasmanian branches of the Labor Party.

ALP national secretary Paul Erickson said the party would consider extending the suspension to other state branches of the construction division “should they be placed into administration”.

“For the duration of the suspension, the branches of the CFMEU that have been suspended will be excluded from all rights ordinarily afforded to an affiliated union under Labor’s national constitution and the rules of the ALP state branches,” Erickson said in a written statement.

“The number one job of any union and its officials is to look after its members. The reported behaviour is the complete opposite of this.”

After the union movement peak body indefinitely suspended the CFMEU this week, ACTU secretary Sally McManus told ABC’s RN Breakfast program on Thursday morning “a few people” had raised the issue of her safety, but did not say whether she was concerned about herself.

“We will do what’s necessary,” she said. “I will do what’s necessary. The union leadership will do what’s necessary; we will not flinch,” she said.

On Thursday, Michael Ravbar, the secretary of the CFMEU in Queensland and the Northern Territory and a former member of the Labor national executive, said the Queensland branch would oppose the government’s attempt to install “unelected administrators to run the CFMEU over unproven media allegations”.

“[Prime Minister Anthony] Albanese’s autocratic attempt to disenfranchise union members has set a dangerous precedent for every union in this country,” he said.

CFMEU national secretary Zach Smith has not commented since last speaking to the media on Tuesday.

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