CFMEU loses bid to keep election details under wraps

The CFMEU has been forced to submit to external scrutiny of its Queensland branch elections.

The CFMEU has been forced to submit to external scrutiny of its Queensland branch elections after losing a last-ditch legal bid against a ruling revoking its right to hold autonomous ballots.

The union’s mining division failed to convince the full bench of the Fair Work Commission that the decision to strip its Queensland branch of its prized electoral exemption was a “substantial injustice”.

FWC delegate Chris Enright revoked the branch’s exemption in November after a two-year investigation found elections as far back as 1996 were potentially run unlawfully and their results of questionable legitimacy.

Union mining division general secretary Andrew Vickers, in evidence to Mr Enright, described the elections as a “debacle” of “eternal shame and embarrassment”.

Mr Vickers sought an urgent appeal against Mr Enright’s decision to the full bench of the Fair Work Commission late last year.

Mr Vickers claimed Mr Enright “failed to accord the CFMEU and its officers procedural fairness” and said the ruling could disadvantage the union and many coalminer members in Queensland owing to possible delays in conducting elections.

In a joint decision dismissing the appeal yesterday, vice-president Graeme Watson, senior deputy president Ian Watson and commissioner David Gregory said “we have concluded that each ground of appeal lacks merit”.

Under industrial laws, registered organisations can apply for an exemption from Australian Electoral Commission scrutiny of internal elections. The CFMEU’s Queensland branch has held the exemption for two decades.

In his November ruling, Mr Enright had cited to the “the egregious conduct of the Queensland board of management in the 2011 election” as being of “most concern” and criticised the role of Queensland mining division president Stephen Smyth.

Mr Smyth’s apparent control of CFMEU elections prompted union members to complain to The Australian two years ago, sparking the FWC probe.

Mr Enright found “irregularities” and breaches in CFMEU elections that delivered dozens of officials to power since 1996, and said the full implications for elected officials were “not entirely clear”.