“The NSW government has strong procurement policies, processes and codes of conduct to address the risk of unethical and unlawful behaviour in the building industry,” Minns said.
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“The NSW Police Force and the NSW Crime Commission are constantly monitoring and tackling organised crime. NSW Police directly engage with their federal counterparts in addressing outlaw motorcycle gangs in the construction industry.”
King will write to the Western Sydney Airport Corporation to seek assurance the taxpayer-funded project was being appropriately managed, after CFMEU NSW executive officer Michael Crosby released a statement saying he was “confident that Future Form are guilty of engaging a significant number of sham contractors on the Western Sydney Airport site”.
“It’s really important that we have those assurances, particularly when we’re dealing with such large-scale taxpayer dollars as is projects like Western Sydney Airport,” King said.
Rishworth said she had spoken with the Fair Work Ombudsman and the Fair Work Commission general manager about any potential breaches.
“I also intend to write to the AFP, referring any criminal allegations to them for investigation, and requesting that they work closely with the Fair Work Ombudsman,” she said.
Rishworth did not respond to a question from this masthead on the establishment of a national inquiry into criminality in the building industry, again backing in the union’s administration as the government’s “strongest possible action”.
The CFMEU NSW on Monday said it would carry out enhanced checks across the construction industry as it seeks to stamp out sham contracting and the underpayment of workers.
Crosby said major reform was needed from within its own ranks and across the broader industry to clean up the troubled sector.
“Too often, the former administration of the union turned a blind eye to non-compliance. As a result, for too many employers, adherence to the enterprise bargaining agreement became purely optional,” Crosby said.
“The use of bikie gang members as enforcers has been one of the reasons for the union’s inaction.”
Crosby said the whole industry had “to lift its game so that good employers don’t suffer from unfair competition from the industry’s bad actors”.
The Master Builders Association of NSW said in a statement that the only solution to clean up the industry was through the return of a national specialist construction industry regulator with the necessary powers.
“Prior to its abolition, the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) had been successful in tackling the culture of toxic industrial practices used by bad actors to drive criminality in the industry,” Matthew Pollock, incoming executive director, said.
“Every time the construction industry regulator is scrapped, the bikies, the violence and intimidation come back, as do the industrial practices, which mean that taxpayers pay more for schools, hospitals and infrastructure.”
Opposition industrial relations spokesperson Tim Wilson blamed the government for the out-of-control conduct, saying the ABCC’s abolition after the 2022 election meant “the limited leash stopping corruption in the construction industry has been loosened.”
“There is no place for criminal, violent or intimidatory behaviour whether it is by unions, bikie gangs or corporates, when workplaces should be safe and harmonious,” he said.
Wilson said the Queensland CFMEU commission of inquiry launched by Premier David Crisafulli was a “courageous step” in the right direction, but stopped short of backing a national inquiry.
Suggesting the federal government would not want to be exposed by a national inquiry, Wilson added: “[Prime Minister] Anthony Albanese and [Industrial Relations Minister] Amanda Rishworth will run interference and be dragged kicking and screaming to do the same lest the dark underbelly of the union, corporate and Labor cartel see the light of day.”
Crisafulli said: “The last thing I want to see is the seedy underbelly of the underworld coming into Queensland building sites and creating underperformance at a time when we need to build so much infrastructure.”
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“As well as the fact that you’ve got women and children who feel unsafe, you’ve got a culture of bullying of misogyny, of intimidation, and it’s got to be called out, and the last thing we need is bikies running the show on building sites in Queensland.
“There’s no place in a modern Queensland for the CFMEU.”
ACTU secretary Sally McManus said it was “appalling and intolerable” that union officials were targeted in attacks “for doing their jobs standing up for workers”.
“It was always clear that a corruption-free union, which only affects a relatively small part of the construction industry, will not change the criminal and violent behaviours of some employers and organised crime who continue to operate in the industry,” she said.
“Good employers and the authorities need to also step up and take on these people. This is not acceptable or reasonable that it is left to unions, or that unions are the focus when there is a lack of action in the rest of the industry.”
with James Hall
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