Fines and jail time a ‘deterrent’ for CFMEU officials tempted to obstruct administrator tasked with cleaning up union
Heavy penalties await officials who try to interfere with an administrator tasked with cleaning up the militant union.
EXCLUSIVE
Fines of up to $4.6 million and two years in prison await CFMEU officials who attempt to interfere with the administrator tasked with cleaning up the militant union under new laws Labor will pursue in response to alleged criminal infiltration of branches.
Destroying business records or membership lists, transferring assets to hide them and other actions that “obstruct or frustrate” the administration work would result in massive fines for the organisation and up to $1m in penalties for individuals, it can be revealed.
In an exclusive interview newly appointed Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt said proposed legislation was due to be introduced to parliament next week given “early signs” the CFMEU did not intend to consent to an application from the Fair Work Commissioner to appoint an administrator to clean up the union.
Mr Watt said the “severe fines” should send a “strong signal to officials of the union and those connected to the union that they should not be getting in the way of the administrator”.
“This is … to deter people who want to do the wrong thing,” he said.
“My message to everyone caught up in this scandal is that the government is serious about fixing it.
“We’re serious about reforming the CFMEU so that it becomes a clean union.”
Mr Watt said he was a union supporter, but the activities going on within the CFMEU were “completely beyond the pale”.
“They have to stop,” he said.
Allegations against the union include the placement of criminal figures in influential high-paying jobs, potential kickback schemes to members and evidence of correspondence between ousted Victorian branch secretary John Setka and underworld figure Mick Gatto.
Last week, Fair Work Commission general manager Murray Furlong filed a case in the Federal Court seeking to appoint barrister Mark Irving KC as administrator of the CFMEU’s construction and general division branches across Victoria, NSW, South Australia, Tasmania, Queensland and the Northern Territory.
Under the proposal Mr Irving would be empowered to sack officials, control union funds and overhaul governance in order to bring the branches into “lawful compliance”.
Mr Watt has previously given the CFMEU until the end of this week to consent to the application, or Labor would introduce legislation forcing the matter.
The Federal Court process suffered a delay on Tuesday after Justice Michael Wheelahan recused himself from the case due to a conflict of interest.
National CFMEU secretary Zach Smith attended a hearing for the matter Melbourne, but declined to comment outside court.
On Monday CFMEU Queensland secretary Michael Ravbar accused Mr Watt and the Albanese Government of launching a “full-frontal attack on the waves and conditions of tens of thousands of workers”.
“Anthony Albanese has given up fighting Tories and turned on trade unionists as he embarks on one of the biggest union-busting campaigns ever seen in Australia,” he said in a statement.
“Many CFMEU members are now politically homeless, and the thread of kinship with the Labor Party has been forever broken.”
Asked how Labor would build back trust with the Australian public given its historic financial and political ties to the CFMEU, Mr Watt said he believed a “reasonable observer” would see the government was taking the “strongest possible action to tackle this problem (of CFMEU wrongdoing) once and for all”.
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Originally published as Fines and jail time a ‘deterrent’ for CFMEU officials tempted to obstruct administrator tasked with cleaning up union
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