Outlaw bikies still operating on Victorian building sites

Anti-corruption barrister Geoffrey Watson finds the CFMEU was caught up in a cycle of lawlessness where violence was accepted.

Former Victorian CFMEU leader John Setka Picture: NewsWire/ Roy VanDerVegt

Labor has declared a CFMEU-commissioned investigation confirming the union’s Victorian branch had been infiltrated by ­bikies and organised crime justified the federal government’s legislation to force the union into administration.

The report by anti-corruption barrister Geoffrey Watson found outlaw motorcycle gang members were still operating on Victorian building sites with the “same authority”, and the union had been caught up in a cycle of lawlessness where violence had been accepted.

Mr Watson’s report, commissioned by the union in a failed bid to stave off administration, found Victorian CFMEU officials had not only engaged in threatening and abusive behaviour but been subject to threats, violence or abuse. “From my investigation, it appeared to me that in this cycle of intimidation and violence, the CFMEU had lost control,” he said.

Facing the threat of administration, CFMEU national secretary Zach Smith announced he would purge bikies from union ranks, sacking 15 delegates with links to outlaw motorcycle gangs.

Mr Watson said “on the information available to me, I consider that the Victorian branch has been infiltrated by OMCGs (outlaw motorcycle gang members) and by organised crime figures”, with bikies inserting themselves at the delegate level.

He said the Victorian branch took action to remove 12 known members or associates of OMCGs from the ranks of delegates but the process was ineffective at removing the influence of the men.

“I was also told that almost all of the people on the list remained with the same employer, in a different capacity (for example, switching from paid employment as a union delegate to paid employment working for the employer directly as a health and safety officer),” he said.

“I understood the same men remained on the same sites with, more or less, the same authority.”

He said CFMEU officials believed it was helpful for the Victorian branch to have its own connections with people associated with OMCGs or organised crime as a counterweight to intimidatory forces allegedly deployed by employers.

Barrister Geoffrey Watson found the CFMEU had been caught up in a cycle of lawlessness,

Mr Watson said CFMEU officials told him that “bosses”, including large contractors on large sites, engaged “crooks” and organised crime figures; employed OMCG members to “stand over” union officials; and engaged OMCG members to “scare us off”.

Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt said the report showed a range of criminal and corrupt conduct had infiltrated the union and the wider construction industry and “demonstrates why it was necessary for the Albanese government to put the union’s construction division into administration”.

Administrator Mark Irving will respond to the report this week.