CW: Domestic violence
Tl;DR
- In July, Nine newspapers reported bikie gangs had infiltrated the CFMEU, Australia’s largest construction union.
- The CFMEU was placed into administration shortly afterwards. It’s now independently controlled.
- Last weekend, Nine published allegations criminal conduct has continued on Victorian building sites, including some women being physically attacked.
- Victoria Police has expanded its investigation to include these allegations.
CFMEU
The CFMEU is one of Australia’s biggest unions, representing more than 115,000 workers across construction, manufacturing, and shipping.
Last year, Nine newspapers uncovered alleged links between criminal figures and the CFMEU.
This included giving people with known criminal convictions positions of power to oversee government-funded construction projects, as well as bribery and intimidation.
Administration
The Federal Government passed a law to allow an external administrator to take over the CFMEU.
More than 270 officials were removed from their posts, inciting a wave of protests across the country.
The administrator appointed the director of the independent think tank the Centre for Public Integrity, Geoffrey Watson SC, to investigate allegations of criminality within the CFMEU’s Victorian branch.
In his interim report, Watson accused the branch of “lawlessness”.
Watson said: “In this cycle of
intimidation and violence the CFMEU had lost control”.
He urged the administrator to allow for further investigation, which was accepted.
Separately, Victoria Police set up “Operation Hawk” in July 2024 to look into allegations of criminality within the CFMEU.
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Premier Jacinta Allan confirmed the existence of Operation Hawk on Monday.
More reports
Over the weekend, Nine newspapers published additional allegations against the Victorian wing of the CFMEU.
This included allegations that some people linked to organised crime, including underworld figure Mike Gatto, had been receiving money through companies affiliated with the Victorian Government’s $100 billion ‘Big Build’ infrastructure project.
Speaking to Nine, Watson accused the Victorian Government of covering up the degree of criminal infiltration within the union. The Government has denied these claims.
Nine program 60 Minutes also aired footage appearing to show a CFMEU health and safety official kicking his girlfriend at an apartment.
Another woman alleged she was attacked by a relative of someone from the CFMEU outside a ‘Big Build’ worksite.
Nine also published accusations that a man with an “extensive criminal history” locked himself in a room with a female co-worker while he smoked ice.
After she complained about the incident, CFMEU officials allegedly banned the woman from working on Big Build sites.
Investigation
Allan said she was “sickened” by the footage of a CFMEU official appearing to attack a woman.
Yesterday, she announced the existence of ‘Operation Hawk’, a police unit investigating criminal conduct in the construction sector.
Allan has since clarified Operation Hawk has been in place since July, while Victoria Police confirmed in a statement to TDA it had expanded to investigate “fresh allegations linked to the construction industry, including assaults against female workers.”
Coalition
The Federal Coalition is calling for the CFMEU to be deregistered altogether, meaning it would no longer be officially recognised as a union.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton called the CFMEU “a modern-day mafia operation” with a “culture of criminality and corruption”.
The Labor Government has pushed back against deregistering the union. Speaking to the ABC, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said deregistration would “hand the union back to the worst criminal elements that used to run the show”.
