CFMEU QLD ‘ruthless’ in pursuit of political power: report
A report has found the CFMEU Queensland branch is ruthless in its pursuit of political and economic power, threatening anyone who opposes its “violent” campaign.
The CFMEU deliberately inflicted physical, sexual, emotional, and economic abuse to cause fear – including against women and kids – to gain power.
A damning report has found the union’s Queensland branch was ruthless in its pursuit of political, industrial, and financial power, “crushing” anyone who opposed its aims.
The union was placed into administration nationwide amid claims that bikie and organised crime figures had infiltrated the organisation.
Administrator Mark Irving commissioned barrister Geoffrey Watson to probe the reports of violence and intimidation.
What he found only scratched the surface of “serious” allegations of intimidation and “thuggery”.
“The CFMEU is relentless,” Watson said after interviewing 55 union members, politicians, bystanders and victims.
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“The CFMEU has ruined careers and caused long-lasting emotional and financial damage to its opponents.”
The union attacked politicians who would not give in to its demands, with CFMEU members telling a public servant, “I am your boss now” during consultations on new industrial legislation in 2015, Watson said.
The members complained that the CFMEU should have been involved in the drafting of the legislation, not just in consultations afterwards.
The union member told the public servant, “You’ll take your directions from me” and “You’re now working for us”.
Watson called the CFMEU’s hostility to women the “single worst aspect” of its violent campaign.
A union member attacked a female work health and safety advisor in 2020, calling her a “f***ing c*** dog” before barking until police arrived and he ran away.
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During a protest in 2022, union members shouted at a young woman “come out here and I’ll f*** you”.
On other occasions, the abuse was directed at children when the CFMEU began targeting the Australian Workers Union to try and drive it out of southeast Queensland.
An organiser was told “we know you have two young sons” during a meeting about enterprise bargaining agreements on Brisbane’s Cross River Rail construction site.
The same organiser was also threatened by union members who said “we won’t stop coming for you – no-one can protect you” and “we know where you live”.
In another incident, a woman working for the AWU and her 13-year-old son were confronted by a heavily built CFMEU member whose head was painted with “Australia’s Worst Union”.
He told the woman, “You’re nothing. You’re a grub. You’re a sell-out. You sell out workers,” before she asked him not to confront her in front of her child.
The man turned to her child and said, “How does it feel to know that your Mum is a f***in’ grub who sells out workers?”.
Workplace safety investigators were called “a f***ing c***” and “a f***ing dog” while being threatened with violence, with one incident involving a union member on site telling the worker “I want to take you outside and bash the shit out of you”.
The CFMEU did not just have a “mere disregard” for the law, Watson said, rather it wanted to have “the reputation of an outlaw”.
Watson warned that unless the CFMEU is stopped, the violence in Queensland will only get worse.
Queensland Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie said the coalition government will amend legislation if necessary to stop a culture of bullying, fear and intimidation on construction sites.
“This is more shocking than even I could have imagined,” he told Nine’s Today Show on Thursday.
“The Crisafulli government has a zero tolerance approach to this sort of behaviour on construction sites.”
