Union royal commission: CFMEU to boycott Canberra hearing

The militant construction union says it hasn’t had enough time to prepare for today’s hearing in Canberra.

The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union says the timetables set for the Canberra hearings are unreasonable.

The militant construction union said it would boycott today’s hearing at the royal commission in Canberra on the grounds it hasn’t had enough time to prepare, as the inquiry prepared to hear allegations of corruption, intimidation and falsifying membership records.

The commission today started three weeks of hearings that will probe the ACT branch of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union and also touch upon the conduct of the plumbing division of the Communications, electrical, postal, plumbing and allied services workers union.

“The evidence the commission will receive paints a disturbing picture of the conduct of the CFMEU in the Australian Capital Territory – alleged corrupt payments, standover and intimidation tactics, and the apparent establishment and promotion of cartels for key trades,” counsel assisting the Commission’s opening statement reads.

“The evidence will also raise significant questions about the governance of the ACT branch of the CFMEU under the stewardship of its Branch Secretary, including whether the supervision and conduct of branch officials has been adequate and whether the branch has received falsified membership forms and the bulk-payment of purported membership dues by employers.”

However, a letter sent to solicitors for the royal commission by the lawyers for the CFMEU earlier this morning said: “The timetables set for the Canberra hearings are unreasonable... The process associated with the Canberra hearings has been seriously flawed and has operated to provide my clients with as little information as possible.”

“Having regard to your approach to the timetable and the risks to my clients, my clients will not be represented at the ... hearing commencing today.”

The CFMEU said it had not been notified as to the identity of witnesses, and that the royal commission was undertaking a trial by “ambush”.

The first witness to appear at the commission this morniing, Elias Taleb, who owns a formwork company in Canberra, did not appear on the list that was published on the royal commission website in recent days.

“My clients’ legal representatives will consider the material led in (today’s) hearings once it becomes available and make application to respond as required accordingly,” the letter from lawyers Slater and Gordon said.

CFMEU national secretary Dave Noonan said: “The procedures of the commission in the upcoming Canberra hearings relating the CFMEU continue the unbalanced approach we have seen previously.”

“Rather than utilising the massive funding provided by Australian taxpayers to provide fairness to parties affected by it’s proceedings, the commission seems intent on carrying out the instructions of its political master Tony Abbott by evidentiary ambush and legal blitzkrieg.”