Dutton lays down gauntlet for Albanese over CFMEU corruption

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton will challenge Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to introduce national racketeering laws to tackle allegations of CFMEU corruption, describing the revelations about the union as “the biggest corruption scandal in our country’s history”.

On Sunday, this masthead and 60 Minutes revealed multiple allegations of domestic violence by members of the CFMEU as well as showing video of a bikie-linked man assaulting a woman while on his lunch break at a state-funded construction project.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and Senator Michaelia Cash on Monday.Credit: Eamon Gallagher

Workplace Minister Murray Watt told this masthead he had referred several allegations to federal police on Monday, including the revelation that building companies are paying off outlaw motorcycle gangs via “dummy” companies; false or misleading information given to the Fair Work Commission to obtain approval of enterprise agreements and; violence – particularly gender-based – on building and construction sites and at the homes of workers. Victorian Premier Jacinta Allen earlier said that Victoria Police would establish a taskforce to investigate the allegations.

But Albanese government ministers refused to commit to auditing taxpayer-funded infrastructure projects to weed out CFMEU-linked underworld infiltration or handing back historical donations from the scandal-plagued union.

Geoffrey Watson SC, a barrister appointed to clean up the construction sector, also alleged that the Victorian government had covered up ongoing CFMEU-linked corruption on its Big Build infrastructure scheme.

Dutton said on Monday he would argue for the union to be disbanded when parliament sat next week as he pushes the Albanese government to pass laws that ensure police could charge criminals in organisations that show a pattern of law-breaking behaviour.

Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Murray Watt will send the allegations to police.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“I’m going to write to the prime minister today, asking for drafting resources and asking for this matter to be dealt with in the parliament next week. I think it has that urgency to it and I think we have the basis upon which to build the legislation very quickly,” Dutton said.

Watt responded to Dutton’s comments on social media, describing the deregistration of the union as a “reckless plan” without commenting on the proposed racketeering laws.

“Deregistering the union would allow it to operate without any regulation, with the worst elements free to run rampant on construction sites again,” he said.

Australia does not have specific racketeering laws. Coalition workplace spokeswoman Michaelia Cash referenced US laws when answering questions about what form Australian laws could take. In the US, criminals can be hit with huge penalties and jail sentences if patterns of behaviour within organisations can be linked to racketeering – acquiring business through illegal means – activity.

Cash said the Coalition would draft its law in an Australian context but would focus on the alleged infiltration of the CFMEU by organised crime.

Dutton backed Cash’s comments by saying the Victorian government’s promise of a police taskforce was a weak response to the CFMEU allegations.

“Jacinta Allen provided a wet-lettuce response today. It was pathetic. It gave a green light for the CFMEU to continue as they are now. What we’re proposing is a model which will stop the CFMEU in its tracks,” he said.

CFMEU administrator Mark Irving said he had spoken to Watt about “next steps” to take action against CFMEU officials implicated in domestic violence, but said the administration alone would not be enough to rid the industry of corruption.

“Developers and employers across the industry must step up to confront organised crime and bikies and stop doing business with them,” Irving said. “Every decent player in the industry needs to do some of the heavy lifting.”

State and federal branches of the Labor Party took millions of dollars in donations from the CFMEU from 2019 to 2024, before the Albanese government forced the union into administration. Early in this term of parliament, the Albanese government abolished the construction industry watchdog after neutering a code that set standards for federal infrastructure projects.

Minister for Women Katy Gallagher dodged questions at a press conference in Canberra on Monday about whether Labor would return CFMEU donations.

“That’s a separate matter to the government and its focus on taxpayer money. We’ve already made it clear about donations from the CFMEU from a party political point of view [that Labor had stopped taking donations last year], and that remains the case,” she said.

Infrastructure Minister Catherine King would not commit to a federal audit on Victoria’s Big Build projects, which have received billions in federal funding, to ensure costs are not being inflated by corruption.

King said at a press conference in Sydney on Monday that she had written to every state and territory minister when corruption allegations were revealed last year to ask for assurances that proper checks were in place. “I saw the program on 60 Minutes last night. If there’s more that needs to be done, I’ll have a look at that,” she said.

Business Council chief executive Bran Black said the latest allegations were incredibly serious and called for a royal commission.

“It’s clear that if we’re serious about doing this we need to have a full, open and transparent national inquiry – because this is likely to be a problem across every state,” he said in a statement.

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