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CFMEU given new suspension, Peter Dutton criticises Labor Party reaction

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Important points
  • There have been reports of criminal misconduct and links to organised crime within the CFMEU Construction Division.
  • An independent administrator is to be appointed – a process to be carried out by Fair Work Australia.
  • Opposition leader Peter Dutton described this as “the weakest possible response”.
Australia’s trade union federation has joined the federal Labor Party in suspending one of the country’s largest unions, with the opposition accusing the government of responding “unsensically” to the corruption allegations it faces.
The Federal Government announced on Wednesday that it had instructed the Fair Work Commission to appoint an independent administrator to take over the construction division of the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU). This branch of the detailed in a series of recent reports from the Nine Network.
The CFMEU consists of three divisions: Construction and General, Manufacturing and Maritime.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Wednesday that the CFMEU would also be expelled from the federal Labor Party. Albanese said if the union contested this, his government was prepared to introduce legislation to ensure cooperation.

His comments came on the same day that Sally McManus, secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, announced following a board meeting of the umbrella organisation that the CFMEU’s construction and general division would also be suspended.

McManus said the suspension would remain in effect until that branch of the union “is able to prove to us that it is a well-functioning, clean union with no criminal elements.”
McManus, who denied knowledge of suspected criminal elements within the CFMEU on ABC’s 7.30 on Tuesday, also called on the CFMEU leadership to “support … and cooperate with” the independent external administration.
“This is the best way for the construction workers to achieve a situation where we can be sure that their union is free from criminal elements and any corruption,” she told reporters on Wednesday.
The Nine Network’s reports focused on the Victorian branch of the union.
After 12 years as State Secretary before the allegations became public. He has denied any wrongdoing.
The allegations have been referred to the Australian Federal Police and the Fair Work Ombudsman will review all enterprise agreements of the Victorian branch of the Department of Construction.
The government had the option of dissolving the union, as former Prime Minister Bob Hawke did with the Builders Labourers Federation in 1986.
But Industrial Relations Minister Tony Burke said this was no longer the best option.
“When Bob Hawke deregistered, it was the toughest measure you could take to purge an organization,” Burke said.

“The way in which industrial relations are regulated under the Fair Work Act means that the appointment of an administrator is the most severe action that can be taken.”

Tony Burke speaks against a dark background and an Australian flag.

Employment Minister Tony Burke described allegations that there were criminal elements in the CFMEU as “absolutely abhorrent”. Source: AAP / Lukas Coch

But opposition leader Peter Dutton is calling for the union to be disestablished and has described the appointment of an administrator as the “weakest possible response”.

“It’s like going into a biker organization and telling the police: let’s just replace the leadership here and put in an administrator, and then the bikers’ activities will sort themselves out. That’s complete nonsense,” he said.
Burke said such a move would be “a gift to the worst elements.”
“If we simply went down the de-registration route, we would have an organization that would still be able to negotiate and implement the full business model that we have been reporting on over the last few days, without the level of regulation or additional oversight that applies to registered organizations,” he said.
“I have no intention of going down that path.”
Burke described the alleged misconduct within the union as “abhorrent” and “intolerable.”
“The most important duty of any union is to look after its members… the reported conduct of the CFMEU’s construction division is the exact opposite of that commitment.”
The CFMEU’s construction division has been suspended by the Labor parties in Victoria and New South Wales.
Queensland has not expelled the union from the Labor Party, but Premier Steven Miles has promised to stand by the government during the administration process.
The CFMEU National Office has placed its branches in Victoria and South Australia under receivership and taken control of them.
It says the allegations of misconduct will be the subject of an investigation led by a “leading legal figure.”

With reporting by Rania Yallop, Sara Tomevska and the Australian Associated Press.

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