Administrator vows to get bikies out as CFMEU corruption probe spreads
The CFMEU administrator is pushing reluctant state and federal policing agencies to back his broadening investigations into violence, graft and organised crime influence in the construction sector as he moves to clean out the bikies and corruption that have infiltrated union ranks.
In a statement released on Tuesday night, administrator Mark Irving, KC provided a detailed outline of how he will combat corruption in the sector, revealing he would seek to force bikies out of influential roles in the CFMEU or with building firms.
CFMEU administrator Mark Irving, KC, photographed in his chambers on September 5.Credit: Joe Armao
“I am of the view that members of outlaw motorcycle gangs and those connected with organised crime should not play any role in industrial relations in the construction industry, whether on the side of employees or the side of the employer,” Irving said.
“I will be working with a range of stakeholders (including regulators, governments and employers) to make it so”.
Expressing concern at the interim report of anti-corruption expert Geoffrey Watson, SC, which was released last week, Irving said he would expand his own investigations using a newly formed integrity taskforce run by former senior detectives and anti-corruption officials.
Irving said he would also ask Watson to continue the work he began on request from the CFMEU’s former national leadership prior to entering administration, but now armed with the administrator’s more expansive powers.
The statement came as mass rallies are planned in Sydney and Melbourne on Wednesday by the sacked CFMEU regime – including several senior ex-officials accused of serious corruption and the potential misuse of millions of dollars of members’ funds – and supporters in other unions.
In a recent interview with this masthead and 60 Minutes, Irving lashed the failure of policing agencies to deal with organised crime in the construction sector. He faces an ongoing challenge in getting the state police forces and the Australian Federal Police to assist his inquiry.
Law enforcement sources have privately conceded that police commissioners across the nation were reluctant to devote resources to the problems flagged by Irving, given that previous investigations into union corruption had produced mixed results.
In cases in which police are eager to help, they are limited in doing so by legal prohibitions on passing law enforcement information to non-police entities, such as Irving’s administration.
Irving said he intended to pursue allegations that bribery or other improper behaviour in the CFMEU had fuelled the rise of labour-hire firms, including some linked to underworld figures and which have also been linked to the mistreatment or underpayment of union members.
Irving’s comments on labour hire challenge the rhetoric of ex-union bosses John Setka in Victoria and Darren Greenfield in NSW, who have sought to portray his administration as an effort to undermine wages and conditions. Irving has stridently disputed the claim.
Sacked CFMEU senior officials have already found work with labour-hire firms or other employers they were previously accused of improperly pushing onto sites using their power as union officials, according to multiple industry sources.
Irving said his investigations will probe “any illegal payments made by labour-hire agencies directly or indirectly to certain” union identities.
In NSW, Irving has vowed to scrutinise what role allegedly corrupt former union bosses Darren and Michael Greenfield – along with their key backer, ex-CFMEU president and former Cbus superannuation fund director Rita Mallia – had in the recent transfer of more than $3 million in union members’ money to a legal firm fund hired to help the Greenfields fight bribery charges.
The Greenfields deny any wrongdoing.
In Queensland, Irving is probing another potentially improper transfer of members’ funds by senior officials just prior to their sacking.
The money allegedly went to a fighting fund to challenge the administration, which was ordered by the Albanese government after this masthead and 60 Minutes revealed explosive evidence of corruption, bribery, bikies and organised crime infiltrating the union.
Irving has also revealed that his Queensland probe will examine allegations of violence and coercion on building sites, claims of kickbacks offered to CFMEU officials, and the “involvement of OMCG [bikie gangs] and those connected with organised crime in industrial relations”.
His taskforce will also examine the sexual harassment of female union delegates in South Australia.
In Victoria, Irving has also directed Watson to use the administrator’s compulsory questioning powers to probe allegations that ex-union assistant secretary Derek Christopher received secret kickbacks from big building firms he was meant to be overseeing as a CFMEU boss.
Watson will also examine allegations that industry fixers, including convicted criminal Harry Korras, offered to channel bribes on behalf of companies to union officials in return for CFMEU backing and access to Victorian government big build projects.
Christopher and Korras have all denied wrongdoing and this masthead is not suggesting they are guilty of any corruption offence, which is a finding that can only be made by a court.
Irving’s task will be difficult, given the entrenched relationships between certain CFMEU figures accused of corruption or wrongdoing and building companies linked to the underworld.
Irving will also examine how so-called charity causes may have been used improperly by the CFMEU. In Victoria, charities linked to underworld figure Mick Gatto have received formal and informal CFMEU backing over many years, with building firms told that supporting Gatto would translate into union support.
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