“Today’s Victorian Government report on the CFMEU’s malign influence in the state amounts to a ludicrous exoneration of the union and expects employers to alone fix unlawful or criminal activity in the construction sector,” said Innes Willox, Chief Executive of the national employer association, the Australian Industry Group.
“Employers can only regard the report as whitewash of union misbehaviour amounting to a continued government protection racket for the CFMEU. The report is in places almost touchingly naive and perhaps a logical extension of the state government’s ridiculous claims in recent months of a lack of knowledge of the CFMEU’s unlawful activities.
“Mr Wilson’s inquiry was notable for having no meaningful engagement or consultation with construction industry employers. It operated under very limited terms of reference and relied in part on the interim report of by Geoffrey Watson SC, an investigator appointed by the CFMEU just prior to the administration. That investigation is continuing.
“While the report accepts the interim findings made by Mr Watson regarding ‘violence being an accepted part of the culture within the union’ and the infiltration of organised crime figures and outlaw motorcycle gangs in the CFMEU, it has made few meaningful recommendations to address this on Victorian construction sites.
“One is for an alliance between regulatory bodies and a sharing of information – this should already be happening. That it doesn’t is simply alarming.
“On encouraging employers to raise complaints, the reality is that they still live in fear of retribution from the CFMEU either for their business or themselves. A recommendation against implementing whistleblower protections will only reduce any incentive for employers to do so.
“Establishing another ‘referral body’ to act as a clearing house just adds another layer of complexity, delaying any actual rectification. Another referral body is not going to make employers feel safer to make complaints about the union’s conduct or for complaints to result in positive outcomes. The reviewer seems to have completely missed the essence of the problem highlighted in the ‘Building Bad’ newspaper reports.
“Increasing the state’s Labour Hire Authority’s powers will only do one thing – increase the complexity burden and cost for employers without any impact on the union that is the cause of the issue.
“This report fails to address the issues it raises regarding misuse of right of entry and powers to disrupt created by existing work health and safety mechanisms.
“Workplace Health and Safety is an area that is often weaponised by the CFMEU and to some part, this is accepted in the report. However, no tangible recommendations are made to create the environment where health and safety issues are not misused.
“What we need right now is a meaningful and effective response to the issues that have been clearly demonstrated through the union’s behaviour, which saw the Federal Parliament act in the most decisive way by putting it into administration.
“The Victorian Government should start engaging with industry to help it find the solutions, and not just create a system to penalise an industry that is an important part of the national economy,” Mr Willox said.
