Electrical Trades Union to divert $1m in ALP donations to CFMEU High Court challenge

The Electrical Trades Union will withhold more than $1m in political donations to the ALP and redirect money towards funding a potential High Court challenge to the legislation forcing the CFMEU into administration.

The CFMEU is pondering a High Court challenge to the legislation forcing it into administration. Picture David Clark

The Electrical Trades Union will withhold more than $1m in political donations to the ALP for the next federal election in protest at Labor legislating to force the CFMEU into administration, and redirect money towards funding a potential High Court challenge to the legislation.

Denouncing the government’s “trial by parliament”, the ETU also decided to refuse to pay affiliation fees to the ACTU while the CFMEU is suspended from the peak union body and has called for an urgent nat­ional council meeting of the broader Communications Electrical Plumbing Union to “debate the continuation of its ACTU affiliation.”

The ETU is a significant financial donor to the ALP, with senior union sources saying it donated more than $1m to Labor at the last federal election.

ETU national secretary ­Michael Wright condemned the government legislation, telling The Australian that the government, through the parliament, was “acting as judge and jury”.

“Trial by parliament is not how we do natural justice in Australia,” he said.

Mr Wright said there were “deeply serious” allegations against the CFMEU, serious ­charges against the union’s NSW secretary Darren Greenfield and a Fair Work application before the Federal Court to put the union into administration.

“All of these matters should be investigated, should be processed and should be, where relevant, dealt with by the courts,” he said.

“The fundamental concern (about the government’s conduct) is this is not how we do the rule of law, we don’t legislate outcomes.

“We have trials by courts, not by parliaments. Having the parliament step into the role of the courts is a pretty bad precedent.”

The ETU national executive motion, passed at a meeting of ­officials in Hobart, says: “It is a cornerstone of our democracy that every organisation or individual has their right to due process and their day in court. The CFMEU has not been afforded that fundamental principle of natural justice, and the ETU will stand up against this unfair treatment, as should every other union.”

The resolution says the ETU will “remain affiliated with the ALP, however any potential funding to the ALP for the 2025 election will now be redirected to fund, along with other unions, any potential legal challenge to the forced administration of the CFMEU”.

Sources said the ETU was not offering a “blank cheque” to the CFMEU but would seriously consider contributing funds if an individual applicant had a credible case and decided to make an application to the High Court.

CFMEU national secretary Zach Smith held further discussions with lawyers on Thursday about a potential High Court challenge to the legislation.

United Firefighters Union nat­ional secretary Greg McConville said the union would consider making a financial contribution towards funding a High Court challenge. The union has provided the CFMEU with legal opinion by senior ­barrister Herman Borenstein KC that the bill expressly overlooked the views of CFMEU members “by the abrogation of the rules of natural justice”.

Mr McConville said the UFU believed the government’s conduct was “straying dangerously into the use of executive power to intervene in the representative structure of a registered organisation … This is of concern to us because a government of any colour could decide it doesn’t like the leadership of a particular union.”

Maritime Union of Australia WA secretary Will Tracey said he and the branch would back the MUA, which is a division of the CFMEU, contributing to the funding of any High Court action to try to overturn the “bad” legislation, but the decision would ultimately be made by the union’s national executive.

“I think we should,” he said.

“I think the impact of the bill, or the ramifications that may well flow out of it, are a problem for the trade union movement as a whole.”

Mr Tracey said the state branch had held meetings of members who were “horrified” by the legislation and “they just can’t believe that a Labor Party would put this up”.

Australian Manufacturing Workers Union acting Victorian secretary Tony Piccolo left open the state AMWU contributing fin­ancially to a High Court challenge.

“We’d have to have a look if and when it occurs but we’re always open to defending the rights of working-class people,” he said.

Mr Piccolo said any consideration to withhold political donations from the ALP would be discussed with the union’s rank-and-file membership and a decision taken at a later date.

“Unionists should be treated in the same way as corporate Australia and be given their opportunity to defend allegations and have their time in the court,” he said

Plumbers Union Queensland secretary Gary O’Halloran said the “rubbish” legislation was a “low act by the Labor government”, and should “definitely” be challenged in the High Court.

MUA NSW secretary Paul Keating said the legislation was “the most anti-worker bill that I can think of in Australia’s history”.

“It sets a real dangerous precedent for the trade union movement or any membership-based organisations, for that matter,” Mr Keating said.