CFMEU wins injunction against Canberra raid

The royal commission taskforce has been ordered to return all material seized in the Canberra raid to the union.

CFMEU construction division secretary Dave Noonan said the raid was a “misuse of police power and resources”. Picture: Philip Norrish

The construction union has won a permanent injunction against a federal police raid on its ACT headquarters with the taskforce attached to the royal commission ordered to return all material seized within seven days.

The Australian Federal Police failed to follow legal procedure when they raided the Canberra branch of the Construction, Mining, Forestry, and Energy Union in August, the ACT Supreme Court found.

Detectives attached to the trade union royal commission began searching the premises before producing a warrant and seized material including a large number of computer files and hardware unrelated to the royal commission’s investigations, the CFMEU claimed.

The Supreme Court ordered the AFP return the seized materials, destroy all copies made, and to pay the union’s legal costs.

CFMEU construction division secretary Dave Noonan said following the decision: “We are concerned that the actions of the Abbott government and the trade union royal commission have politicised the Australian Federal Police in an unprecedented way”.

He said it was arguably a “misuse of police power and resources at a time when Australia is facing a heightened terrorist threat” and “taxpayers will want to know why money and other resources are being used in this way.”

“This sort of politicisation of the AFP belongs in the dustbin of political history with Tony Abbott”.

The CFMEU is scheduled to appear in the federal court in Brisbane on Monday challenging the AFP’s raid on its Queensland headquarters after securing a temporary injunction against the warrant.