CFMEU boss accuses Labor of ’McCarthyist witch hunt’

The CFMEU is lobbying Labor MPs to try to stymie a planned takeover of the union’s construction divisions.

New laws targeting the CFMEU will be introduced into parliament on Monday. Picture: David Clark

CFMEU national secretary Zach Smith has accused the federal government of waging a “McCarthyist witch hunt” against the union, directly lobbying Labor MPs to try to stymie a planned takeover of the union’s construction divisions.

Ahead of the government introducing a bill on Monday to place the construction divisions in the hands of an administrator, Mr Smith has written to MPs and senators seeking meetings and their support to oppose the planned legislation.

In a letter seen by The Australian, Mr Smith said the proposed laws undermined the legal process, stripped the union of its right to procedural fairness, and played politics with the serious issue of criminal conduct in the construction sector.

He said if the government was genuinely interested in addressing criminality in the construction industry, it would not design laws that exclusively targeted the CFMEU and deprived its members of proper representation and democratic rights.

“Mass sacking 300 union officials without any form of due process is the stuff of a McCarthyist witch hunt,” he said.

“It will cripple the ability of the union to do its job of representing workers.”

Under the bill, the CFMEU’s key construction divisions will be placed into ­administration for at least three years, with union officials warned they risk jail or heavy financial penalties if they seek to frustrate the takeover of the ­scandal-plagued union.

Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt has said the laws would establish significant penalties with retrospective effect from July 17 for any officials taking ­action, including destruction of documents, to frustrate or undermine the work of the administrator. The penalties for anti-avoidance behaviour would include up to two years’ jail and a $1m penalty for an individual and $4.6m for a corporation.

CFMEU national secretary Zach Smith. Picture: NewsWire/Martin Ollman

Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/Courier Mail

High-profile CFMEU officials face losing their jobs after the administration takes effect, including Michael Ravbar in Queens­land, Darren and Michael Green­field in NSW, and Derek Christopher in Victoria, although sources said separate state legislation could be required to force them out, given the employment arrangements of officials.

Senator Watt told Sky News on Sunday that he believed “everyone’s had a gutful of what they’ve been seeing from certain parts of this union for a long time”.

“There is no place for criminality, corruption, thuggery, bullying, intimidation in any workplace in Australia and if it takes legislation to fix that, that’s what we’re prepared to,” he said.

He said he had acknowledged Mr Smith’s efforts in recent weeks in response to the allegations of criminality “but it’s not enough”.

“The way the union is structured means that a lot of the state branches and some of the individuals named in these reports have extreme power over the activities of the union, and that’s why we believe that legislation is required to give me the power to determine if it’s in the public interest to put an administrator in and to clean up this union once and for all,” Senator Watt said.

The opposition said it would make decisions about the legislation “once we have seen it”.