John Lomax blackmail charge focuses on alleged union tactics

Details have emerged about blackmail charges facing union official and former rugby league star John Lomax.

Details have emerged about the blackmail charges facing construction union official and ex-Canberra Raiders rugby league star John Lomax, who was arrested last Friday by a federal police taskforce linked to the trade unions royal commission.

At the centre of the allegations facing Mr Lomax are the tactics the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union allegedly uses when arranging an enterprise bargaining agreements.

The charges against Mr Lomax stem from an EBA with the CFMEU, Canberra painting company Nel Trading and Nel Trading director Woong Yul (Alex) Park in March 2014, the union revealed this week.

The Nel Trading EBA was not mentioned in the royal commission hearings, and Mr Lomax, who was due to testify before his arrest but has not yet been cross-examined, does not appear to have derived a financial gain from the EBA.

This has raised the ire of the union which is accusing the Australian Federal Police of using the royal commission as an opportunity to target union EBAs more broadly in the Australian Capital Territory.

Mr Park told police he was “threatened” by Fihi Kivalu, a former organiser and royal commission witness who was arrested and charged with blackmail after giving evidence at the hearings in Canberra this month.

Mr Kivalu allegedly said Mr Park would lose work at a job site in Queanbeyan if he didn’t sign up to an EBA with the union, according to Mr Lomax’s charge sheet.

Mr Park said Mr Lomax then confirmed he had to sign the EBA or “possibly be kicked out of the Queanbeyan job site”.

“The defendant (Mr Lomax) stated to Mr Park that the CFMEU would … kick companies that had not signed an EBA with the CFMEU out of job sites,” the police alleged.

The CFMEU claimed the taskforce had “totally over reacted” and demanded the AFP drop the charges against Mr Lomax.

Dave Noonan, CFMEU construction secretary, said Mr Lomax was “doing nothing more than advocating higher wages for the union’s members” while negotiating a “normal enterprise agreement”.

The charge was “malicious”, Mr Noonan said.

He stressed that Mr Lomax had made no “financial gain” from the EBA.

And he added the union had forced Nel Trading to pay thousands of dollars owed to workers who had been underpaid.

A spokesman for the royal commission said Mr Lomax’s arrest was a “police matter”.

But he added that the police taskforce announced by Tony Abbott had powers to match the terms of reference.

“The police taskforce is able to make an arrest for criminal conduct. The police taskforces were established to investigate matters that fall under the Commission’s terms of reference.”

Mr Lomax is due to face ACT Magistrates Court on Wednesday.