Construction companies working on billions of dollars of public projects could be investigated over allegations of price fixing and forced union memberships raised in the Senate after the CFMEU’s incoming administrator pledged to root out corruption in the industry.
Minister Murray Watt says the CFMEU’s administrator will investigate allegations against employers raised by senator Jacqui Lambie.Workplace relations minister Murray Watt said on Tuesday that the incoming administrator, Mark Irving, KC, had made a written guarantee to probe any corporate wrongdoers in cahoots with the union.
“It’s going to be like a domino effect and I would think that the government would want this looked at and if those terms of reference need to be pushed out even further, then they’ll have no choice but to get to the bottom of this,” Lambie said on Tuesday. “I want to see those referrals to Australian Federal Police going as quickly as possible, because, quite frankly, people’s lives are at risk.