Union royal commission: witness called police on ACT CFMEU boss

The construction union’s ACT leader has been named in evidence at the royal commission into trade unions.

CFMEU ACT Branch Secretary Dean Hall CFMEU has been accused of trespassing, “bullying” and unlawful “shutdowns.

The construction union’s ACT leader was today named in evidence at the royal commission into trade unions alongside allegations of trespassing, “bullying” and unlawful “shutdowns”.

Project manager Donald McInnes told the commission today that he saw Dean Hall, ACT branch secretary at the construction, forestry, mining and energy union, at worksites accompanied by senior union organiser Fihi Kivalu.

Mr Kivalu was yesterday alleged to have extorted more than $150,000 from construction businesses in Canberra. In response to the allegations the CFMEU distanced itself from Mr Kivalu, who left the union last year.

Mr McInnes, who was site manager for construction firm B & T Constructions at a $30 million project for Victory Homes where he oversaw around 70 workers, said he called the police after a visit to the work site from Mr Hall and Mr Kivalu in late 2013.

On that visit, Mr Hall and Mr Kivalu refused to show the right-of-entry permit legally required to attend the site. “”I said to Dean Hall, I said, ‘Can I see your entry permits?’, and he refused to show them to me. He said, ‘Why do I need to show you these? I’ve already shown them to you the first time’,” Mr McInnes said.

He added: “I said ‘Dean, you’re trespassing, you need to wait for WorkCover’ … and he said, you know, to the effect of you and your Fair Work building mates can go and get … and you can’t tell me what to do.” Mr McInnes then called the police.

Counsel assisting the commission, Jeremy Stoljar, asked Mr McInnes, “did the police officers express some reluctance to get involved?” Mr McInnes answered was “yes”.

In a witness statement handed to the court, Mr McInnes said: “During my time in the ACT, I have witnessed the intimidation and bullying tactics of the CFMEU. They came to the Victory Home’s site and threaten to, or actually, shut the site down.

“The CFMEU namely Fihi used stand over tactics to try and intimidate us as Victory homes would not sign an EBA.

“I recall one occasion when Fihi came to the Victory homes site office while trying to induct him as a visitor he became aggressive and he pushed me out of his way when I got in his pathway to read a document that was on my desk.”

Mr McInnes added that the officials claimed they had concerns over safety issues at the project. “But it didn’t stop at that,” he said. “They just walked around the whole site and they were just basically uncontrolled ... We called WorkCover. If it was a safety concern then I’d prefer to have WorkCover there than the Union.

“WorkCover turned up and there was some — I think two matters that we had to address, which we did at the time.”