CFMEU administrator takes aim at union’s ‘unpardonable sin’ and bosses paying bribes

The administrator of the scandal-plagued CFMEU has warned that corruption and coercion infecting its ranks is even worse than publicly reported while vowing to pursue both dishonest unionists and employers who have contributed to a culture of fear and intimidation in the industry.

In his first interview since his appointment last month, senior barrister Mark Irving, KC, told this masthead and 60 Minutes that the “monumental” and “massive” task of tackling the infiltration of bikie and underworld figures into the union and broader building sector was “going to be the hardest job of my life by a long shot”.

CFMEU administrator Mark Irving, KC, says this job will be his hardest.Credit: Joe Armao

“On the information that I have seen, it [the union] went very bad. It went worse than what has previously been reported,” Irving said.

“People should not have to turn up to work with menacing conduct as part of a business model of an employer or of a union. That sort of menacing conduct has no role in industrial relations in the construction industry or anywhere in Australian society.”

He conceded that, a fortnight after his appointment, he was yet to establish control of the union he ostensibly leads, saying “it’s going to take time before we can properly gain control of all of the CFMEU”.

Irving also mounted a blistering attack on policing agencies for their failure to adequately act on the alliance between underworld figures, including bikies, and certain union and company bosses and the culture of violence and corruption they spawned.

“They’ve [police] been nowhere near close enough. They’ve been ineffective in this space and they need to be better,” he said.

On Friday, Victoria Police moved to quell concerns it had done too little to combat the problems outlined by Irving, releasing a statement outlining how the force had examined multiple allegations since this masthead and 60 Minutes′ Building Bad series in July exposed the criminal infiltration and corruption in the CFMEU and broader industry.

The police said they were still assessing charges against an ex-CFMEU official for allegedly taking kickbacks and had on Thursday charged another senior union organiser with making threats to kill an Indigenous sub-contractor. The statement was silent on what state police were doing to counter the deep infiltration by organised crime of the construction sector.

The CFMEU’s former leadership, backed by several other large unions and the Greens, have attacked Irving’s appointment, holding a series of protests and launching a High Court challenge to the administration.

CFMEU member Robbie Cecala hopes the administrator can bring about real change.Credit: Eddie Jim

Veteran CFMEU member and activist Robbie Cecala – who has previously served as a shop steward and on the union’s governing body in Victoria – broke ranks to back Irving’s administration, telling this masthead that many honest union delegates and members were sick of a culture of self-interest and nepotism that had infected the CFMEU.

Cecala said union officials had privately complained about bikies and dodgy labour hire companies getting promoted by some CFMEU senior figures at the expense of regular union members.

He described “good CFMEU organisers” getting pressured by union bosses not to challenge safety issues caused by certain companies aligned with select union bosses.

“They’ve made deals or sometimes because they [building firms] put their [union bosses’] friends on or someone in their family on, say, you do me a favour, I’ll do you a favour,” he said.

Cecala said disgraced union boss John Setka and some of his union allies had started “believing their own bullshit and become too powerful in their own minds”.

But Cecala said his support of the administration was conditional on it preserving workers’ conditions and pursuing corrupt companies with the same zeal as it investigated dishonest union officials.

“The administrator hasn’t shown anything other than get rid of a few heads. How are they going to clean it up? What’s the process? If people are feeling intimidated, who do you go to?” Cecala said.

“[But] if the things start changing and the administrator starts improving things, I think the Pandora’s box will be open. Then people will start talking.”

During his exclusive interview, Irving not only repeatedly stressed his union credentials – he is a long-term member of the Australian Services Union and a former delegate – but highlighted his reform and investigative powers would extend to building companies as well.

‘There is an unpardonable sin within the union movement. If you have accepted bribes, then your your service of this union [is] going to be over.’

Mark Irving, QC

Irving revealed he had created an integrity and whistleblower unit led by former senior detectives and anti-corruption agency officials, and that they were already hunting corruption within and outside union ranks.

“The notion that it’s the CFMEU alone that is the problem, or its leadership alone that’s the problem, is mistaken,” he said.

“In relation to the employer and the employer groups who have engaged with this sort of conduct, that needs to be stamped out as well.”

Irving said any building firm that sought to use the current industry instability to erode wages and conditions would be “given short shrift”.

“This is not going to be a process in which the hard-fought-for conditions which members have battled for over the course of decades are going to be stripped away.”

He also savaged former union bosses who are accused of privileging self-interest over their members.

Two high-ranking ex-NSW CFMEU officials are facing serious bribery charges, while Derek Christopher, the now former Victorian union boss who was set to replace ex-secretary John Setka, stands accused of taking kickbacks from major building companies that employ union members. Christopher and the two NSW bosses deny all wrongdoing.

While Irving did not comment on the active alleged corruption matters involving these three recently sacked CFMEU leaders – and there is no suggestion by this masthead they are guilty of any a crime, which is a finding that can only be made by a court – he said any union official who had taken kickbacks would be relentlessly pursued, along with the company figures who paid bribes.

Irving said he would be “making sure that both are held to account and that there are structural changes put in place to ensure … such conduct doesn’t occur as regularly again”.

“There is an unpardonable sin within the union movement and within the CFMEU. If you have accepted bribes, then your employment and your service of this union are going to be over.”

Irving said his administration of the CFMEU would only be successful when he had returned “the union to the democratic control” of “the vast majority” of honest CFMEU members and officials.

“In this industry, for a long period of time, those who spoke up went onto a blacklist – I want to move that onto a to-do list,” he said.

He said success would also entail ensuring “those who have previously served in [union] leadership are held to account” for engaging in, or turning a blind eye to, corruption and hardening the industry against “organised crime and the role of biker groups”.

“It’s going to be a hard process. It’s going to be a long process,” he said. “The success in this task isn’t going to be assessed at the end of any period of administration, it’s going to be assessed in 10 or 15 years’ time.

“Having royal commissions, having commissions of inquiry, which are just going to attack the union and poke holes in it rather than trying to help to rebuild it in a stronger, better way, is just going to be a waste of time.”

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