Convicted union ‘thug’ Scott Vink cosies up with Labor leaders

Labor’s attempts to distance itself from the CFMEU have been again undermined as photographs emerge of ALP figures meeting a militant unionist banned from work sites.

CFMEU ‘enforcer’ Scott Vink poses with Foreign Minister Penny Wong at the Adelaide May Day rally this year.

Labor’s attempts to distance itself from the CFMEU have again been undermined as photographs have emerged of senior ALP figures meeting a militant unionist who was banned for two years from ­entering work sites over what a judge called “sheer thuggery” ­towards non-union workers.

The man, Scott Vink, was known as the union’s Gold Coast “enforcer” and now works for the CFMEU in South Australia as part of the contingent of interstate officials who have taken over the once-moderate SA branch.

Mr Vink attended the March 19 election victory party for SA Premier Peter Malinauskas where they were photographed together celebrating Labor’s win, which was backed by the CFMEU with a $125,000 donation to SA Labor from the union’s John Setka-­controlled Victorian division.

Mr Vink was also photographed with Foreign Minister Penny Wong at the May Day rally in Adelaide just weeks before the May 22 federal election.

He has also been photographed with the newly elected Labor member for the federal seat of Spence, Matt Burnell, who visited the CFMEU’s Adelaide office last month to thank the union for its support at the federal election.

Scott Vink arm in arm with South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas.

Mr Malinauskas offered a spirited defence of what SA Labor ­insists was a “chance encounter” with Mr Vink who, it says, was one of “dozens” of people seeking selfies with the Premier at Labor’s Adelaide Oval victory party on March 19.

In his first comments about SA Labor’s acceptance of the $125,000 donation from the Victorian CFMEU, Mr Malinauskas said he had no relationship with its state secretary John Setka, who is now also running the SA branch.

A spokesman for Mr Malinauskas also said that he had no knowledge of Mr Vink’s identity nor of his legal history.

“The Premier does not know the man in the photo,” his spokesman said. “Clearly, the Premier condemns any criminality in the workplace and has never met or spoken with John Setka, ever.

“The Premier has a strong track record of working collaboratively with business and unions to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes.”

A spokeswoman for the Foreign Minister said Senator Wong had attended this year’s May Day rally where she was approached by some CFMEU members seeking selfies – but that she also had no idea who Mr Vink was. “She does not know him and has no knowledge of his prior convictions,” the spokeswoman said.

Mr Vink and the CFMEU were fined $57,000 in 2016 over an obscenity-laden confrontation with non-union workers at the Pacific Fair shopping centre ­development on the Gold Coast in 2014.

The trigger for Mr Vink’s rage was his discovery that the non-union members were putting their lunch boxes in a fridge in a staff lunch room which he believed should have been used only by CFMEU members.

When approached by the site’s health and safety manager, Mr Vink launched a tirade, saying workers who were not CFMEU members were not allowed to keep their lunch in site fridges. He then threw their lunch boxes out of the fridge and padlocked the site shed, denying them access.

An audio file of the exchange tendered to the court included Mr Vink saying: “Get out of the shed, you scab – you’re a f..kin’ piece of shit, mate, that’s what you are”, and “What did I just say, mate? Get this shit out of the f..kin’ shed. Don’t make it any worse.”

Federal Court Judge Salvatore Vasta found the behaviour of Mr Vink was designed to reinforce the notion that non-union membership would not be tolerated, and he banned Mr Vink from ­entering work sites for two years.

Justice Vasta said it was “hard to imagine a more blatant single breach” of the Fair Work Act.

“It would be apt to describe the behaviour of (Mr Vink) as sheer thuggery,” Justice Vasta said.

“Such thuggery has no place in the Australian workplace. Contraventions of the FW Act that ­involve such thuggery cannot be tolerated.”

Mr Vink was one of several CFMEU members who campaigned against the Marshall Liberal government ahead of the March 19 SA election by putting up posters with slogans such as “Libs Tell Fibs”.

One poster depicted former premier Steven Marshall as a rat, featuring his head superimposed on a rat’s body with the caption “Marshall doesn’t give a rat’s”.

Mr Vink was also involved in a social media campaign last year against sidelined former SA CFMEU secretary Aaron Cart­ledge, in which Mr Cartledge was labelled a “dog”, a “sellout parasite”, “c..t”, “filth” and “maggot” for working as an industrial law adviser to the building industry.

Mr Vink and other CFMEU officials were sought out for a meeting at their Adelaide CBD office by the newly elected Labor member for Spence, Matt Burnell, after the election of the Albanese federal Labor government.

“Was great to see the federal MP for Spence Matt Burnell visit the CFMEU SA office yesterday where we congratulated him on his recent successful campaign,” Mr Vink posted on Facebook with an accompanying photograph of the meeting, adding: “A man that will stand up for workers rights and conditions!”

SA opposition Treasury spokesman Matt Cowdrey dismissed Mr Malinauskas’s claims that the photo was innocent.

“The consistent close-knit links between the militant CFMEU and Peter Malinauskas’s Labor Party are growing stronger every day,” Mr Cowdrey told The Australian.

“Peter Malinauskas sat back and watched John Setka’s takeover of the SA CFMEU branch knowing full well it will send construction costs skyrocketing.

“Anthony Albanese managed to draw a line in the sand and distance himself from John Setka but Peter Malinauskas clearly doesn’t have the same standards.

“Instead, Peter Malinauskas happily posed for a photo with a pal from the CFMEU.”

Mr Vink was contacted for comment but did not reply.