CFMEU misses deadline for agreeing to administrator

CFMEU national secretary Zach Smith has refused to meet the government’s deadline for agreeing to an administrator

Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt has given the CFMEU an ultimatum. Picture: Brendan Radke

CFMEU national secretary Zach Smith has refused to meet the government’s deadline for agreeing to an administrator to take over four of the union’s construction divisions, clearing the way for Labor to introduce legislation next week to force the takeover.

Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt said on Thursday that the government would introduce special legislation next week if the union did not consent by Friday to a Fair Work Commission application to put them into ­administration.

Mr Smith wrote to Senator Watt late on Thursday and said it was too “early to say” whether the union intended to consent to the application “but that should not be understood as any decision not to consent”. He said the basis for the commission’s wide-ranging application was not clear.

He said while the CFMEU took the allegations against the union very seriously, “they have not been tested by any court or tribunal, and the union’s rules require procedural fairness to be afforded to all persons whose interests are directly affected by any steps taken to address the allegations”. “This takes time,” he wrote.

He detailed a series of actions taken by the union in response to the allegations, and asked the government to provide more information about any further action required by next week if it believed the union’s response was inadequate.

He said addressing allegations of criminal conduct “without proper particularisation of that conduct is a challenge”.

CFMEU national secretary Zach Smith. Picture: Nadir Kinani / NewsWire

Mr Smith said union officials were governed by a series of statutory obligations under federal legislation.

“Those laws impose obligations to ensure important decisions that impact the union and its members are taken with requisite diligence and care,” he said.

“It would not be possible for the relevant officers of the union to act consistently with those duties without seeking further information about the general manager’s application. The application is wide ranging and its basis is not clear.”

He said the union’s lawyers had sent a range of questions to commission general manager Murray Furlong and requested a prompt response.

“Consenting to the application, or seeking to negotiate some revisions to the proposed scheme in order to facilitate consent remains a possibility,” he said

Mr Smith said the union was willing to work with Mr Furlong, and suggested they engaged in mediation to see whether an agreement could be reached.

The union’s position means Senator Watt could announce the special legislation as early as Friday.

Senator Watt had said earlier that the government was close to finalising the legislation to impose ­administrator Mark Irving on the union.

“I’ve made very clear, both in correspondence to the union and publicly, that unless the union consents to the application that’s been made to the court to put them into administration, then we will act next week and we will introduce legislation that would enable the administration to go ahead,” he said.

Mr Smith met Mr Furlong on Thursday to discuss the FWC’s Federal Court bid to place the construction divisions in five states and the Northern Territory into administration.

Senator Watt said he had held discussions in recent days with the ACTU and a number of employer groups about the proposed legislation.

“I think one of the things that’s really striking here is that we have a rare opportunity where we have the overwhelming majority of the union movement supporting strong action,” he told the ABC’s Patricia Karvelas.

“We have employer groups largely supporting the government’s intentions and plans. And, of course, we have a government that’s prepared to act. So I don’t think we should waste that opportunity with political games, whether it be from the Coalition or the Greens. And they would have to explain to the Australian public why they would be standing in the way of taking action against John Setka and the CFMEU and, importantly … all of the organised criminals that unfortunately seem to surround this union.”

Senator Watt said the government was in the process of “taking the strongest action that has ever been taken against the CFMEU in Australia’s history”.

He said he had held discussions with ­Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus about committing extra police resources towards tackling the CFMEU’s alleged conduct, and that was being considered.

The FWC is investigating more than $180,000 in donations made by the John Setka-led Victorian CFMEU to a printing company, which the union described as donations for the “in-house election” of Health Workers Union Victorian branch secretary Diana Asmar.

Senator Watt said it was in the interest of union members that Ms Asmar step down, and he would support any action taken by the commission over the allegations.