‘National menace’: CFMEU construction arm’s suspension from Victorian Labor under way, premier says
Victorian premier Jacinta Allan says federal Labor is already taking steps to suspend the CFMEU’s construction division from the Victorian party, as she defends her handling of a letter outlining allegations about the union.
Allan on Monday said she had written to police and the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (Ibac) to investigate allegations of criminal links within the union, reported by Nine newspapers on the weekend. The Victorian branch of the CFMEU was placed into administration following Nine’s reports.
Related: Jacinta Allan seeks suspension of CFMEU construction division from Victorian Labor party
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Allan said she was “confident” the national executive would suspend the union’s construction division from the state Labor party over allegations of criminal links.
“As I’ve said yesterday, I’ve spoken to the prime minister on the path ahead and, as of this morning, I note that I am the only head of a government in this country who has outlined a clear, a detailed plan to confront this national menace,” she said.
She also confirmed that donations from the union’s construction division to the Victorian Labor party had been paused and tough new anti-bikie laws would be introduced to state parliament next month.
Allan faced questions on reports in Nine newspapers that she had taken a year to respond to an Indigenous labour-hire firm’s allegations of reprisals by CFMEU.
The report revealed that the firm sent Allan documents in 2022 in support of claims that CFMEU officials were threatening violence and banning non-union preferred companies on state and federal construction projects.
Allan, then the state’s infrastructure minister, acknowledged the delay.
“I’ve had the opportunity to examine where the processes didn’t meet the expectations that I expect,” she said.
Allan said when the letter was formally lodged with her office, and the Major Transport Infrastructure Authority (MTIA), it was acted upon. She also wrote to Shane Patton, the chief commissioner of Victoria police, to raise the allegations.
Correspondence released by Allan’s office on Tuesday showed she wrote to Patton in June last year, advising that the MTIA had informed her the authority was “anecdotally aware of a small number of possible criminal incidents on government infrastructure projects”.
She said further information obtained by the transport department and the MTIA did not find evidence of systemic, widespread criminal activity, but the matter was being referred to police.
“Given that this issue has been raised with me and the potential seriousness of possible criminal activity in worksites operated by contracted providers on major infrastructure projects, I feel duty bound to also raise this matter directly with you,” Allan wrote.
Patton said on Tuesday that the referral did not meet the threshold for criminality and no further action was taken.
Allan said the industrial relations powers were held by the commonwealth, but the state government had “provided advice, assistance, information to any organisation that has raised concerns with us about pursuing those matters with the federal government, in terms of the allegation of criminal behaviour”.
Allan also urged the federal government “to review – and if necessary, terminate” – CFMEU enterprise bargaining agreements on Victorian construction sites to prevent possible criminal activity.
Guardian Australia understands a decision on the suspension from the party’s Victorian branch could occur as early as Wednesday, when Labor’s national executive and the Australian Council of Trade Unions were due to hold separate meetings.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Victoria police chief commissioner confirmed the force’s crime command had begun assessing the government’s referral of the matter to determine whether the allegations met the criminal threshold.
“There’s potential threats, there’s influence potential in contracts. Whether it meets the criminal threshold, though, is a different matter,” Patton told ABC radio.
Patton said he could take “a month or two” to sift through all the material before police rule one way or another. He said police would liaise with Ibac.
The Victorian and South Australian branch of the union was on Monday placed into administration by the national office.
The allegations have prompted calls for the union to be deregistered. But its national secretary, Zach Smith, said that would be a retrograde step.
“What deregistration means is that workers lose their representation overnight on issues like safety and wages and conditions,” he told ABC radio.
