Devil will be in the detail on Labor’s CFMEU response

Underworld infiltration. Late-night intimidation. Kickbacks for access to big government projects. Bullying and harassment on building sites.

A catalogue of misconduct at the CFMEU’s Victorian and NSW branches, captured on secret surveillance vision and tapped phone calls published by the Herald, The Age, The Australian Financial Review and 60 Minutes, has revealed how the construction union wields power in the building industry.

The rot started under Norm Gallagher’s Builders Labourers Federation in the 1980s, but continued to flourish under CFMEU boss John Setka. His heavy influence over the Victorian branch since 2012 heralded an aggressive and crooked style of unionism, with bikies joining senior ranks and dissenters intimidated into silence.

Setka resigned as a result of the investigation, which among other things exposed CCTV footage showing the dumping of a suitcase with “dog” scrawled on it at a rival union official’s home. He will go down in history as one of Australia’s most notorious union figures.

The next steps will be key if genuine reform is to be achieved at the CFMEU. A thorough clean-out of Setka’s cronies – the corrupt, the violent and all underworld figures – is needed. A new generation of decent unionists must take their place.

It will require strong and concerted action from the federal Labor government, which ought to get some credit for its swift and effective response so far to the damning revelations.

Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke has referred the revelations to the federal police for investigation and called for the Fair Work Ombudsman to review some of the CFMEU’s wage deals. Most significantly, the union will be taken over by an independent administrator who will work as a temporary chief.

These decisions, taken in response to the investigation, are positive steps.

But to be effective, the independent administrator will need to be knowledgeable of the complex inner workings of union structures and have strong powers to remove elected officials where necessary. They will need to restructure the organisation, recruit staff and ensure it is run well.

Burke has shown he is serious about genuine reform, committing to put a draft law to parliament if necessary to overcome any objections from the union – but the devil will be in the detail.

Still, one might argue it should not have taken this long for the government to act.

It is evident that the CFMEU cannot be trusted to clean up its own act. It is fanciful to think that reform is possible under some other senior members of the union.

A deep clean of the union will not happen overnight, but an independent administrator who can root out the seeds of corruption and transform the CFMEU into a democratically run union with good governance, proper checks and balances and strict anti-corruption rules is needed.

If carried out effectively, these efforts will shape the future of the construction union and broader labour movement for the better.

Get a weekly wrap of views that will challenge, champion and inform your own. Sign up for our Opinion newsletter.