NSW wants to suspend CFMEU construction branch of ALP

The state government demanded that the CFMEU’s construction arm be suspended by the New South Wales Labor Party.

NSW Premier Chris Minns and Treasurer Daniel Mookhey have fired the NSW Labor Party General Secretary in the wake of new corruption allegations arising from a major investigation by The Australian Financial Review, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald And 60 minutes published on Wednesday.

They called on the national association to take the “necessary steps” to immediately suspend the ties between the CFMEU’s Construction and General Department and the party and to stop accepting any donations or membership fees.

“The revelations that have come to light this morning are horrifying,” Minns and Mookhey said in a joint statement on Wednesday.

“Criminal or corrupt behaviour will not be tolerated at all in the construction industry, in unions or anywhere else.

“It is clear that the CFMEU’s Construction and General Department cannot and will not clean itself up.”

A police camera hidden in the roof of the CFMEU’s Sydney office is said to have recorded New South Wales Construction Union leader Darren Greenfield being handed a $5,000 wad of cash in what is believed to be a bribery deal in which money was exchanged for union support.

The vision was filmed on June 19, 2020, and appears to show the owner of a construction company reaching into his pocket in search of union support and pulling out a wad of cash, which he then passes to Greenfield under the table.

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Minns and Mookhey said the New South Wales Labor government was working with the federal Labor government on a “coordinated approach” to dealing with the furore surrounding the CFMEU since allegations of corruption against the Victorian branch emerged on Friday.

The New South Wales government announced it would provide an update on further planned measures later on Wednesday.