Labor is under pressure to launch a royal commission or judicial inquiry into the CFMEU after explosive allegations of misconduct by the militant union and its officials prompted Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke to seek advice on options to take over the organisation or even deregister it.
Ai Group chief executive Innes Willox called for an audit of taxpayer-funded infrastructure projects to remove CFMEU officials linked to criminal groups, an investigation by state police, and a broad inquiry at the federal level. It also called on the federal government to increase the FWO’s powers to hold recidivist officials and unions to account and for the ACCC to investigate activity contrary to competition laws.“The fact that John Setka went is a start. It is in no way the end of what needs to be done,” he said.
“I’m effectively going to be looking at three things: the advice and the extent of my powers, the allegations as they’re revealed; and finally, the extent to which the union itself acts immediately and effectively. If they don’t, I will.” “Having the CFMEU on major projects is like inviting criminal organisations to have an ATM card for the accounts of the Victorian people,” he said.
“There are some actions where they might sound tough and actually create a worse element because you end up with people with even less regulation around them,” Mr Burke said.Advertisement