CFMEU internal inquiry was a 'whitewash', royal commission alleges
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Version 0 of 1. The royal commission into trade union governance and corruption has attacked a construction union internal inquiry into alleged death threats and underworld links as “a whitewash”. The commission has also heard claims from the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) that a building boss who accused the union of demanding corrupt payments had a history of underpaying workers and “phoenixing” failed companies. Investigations continued on Tuesday into the CFMEU’s handling of death threat claims by Brian Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick has alleged that a fellow union official, Darren Greenfield, told him: “I don’t care how many police you’ve got with you, I’m coming over there tomorrow and I’m going to kill you” after he complained about the CFMEU’s endorsement of labour hire and scaffolding companies linked to an underworld figure, George Alex. The CFMEU commissioned an independent investigation which cleared it of any wrongdoing in relation to Fitzpatrick, claims of bullying and favourable treatment of Alex’s companies. A barrister, Tony Slevin, investigated a series of claims made in a detailed letter from a union official, Andrew Quirk, that the NSW CFMEU was “at risk of becoming a front for criminal figures”. Slevin reported in June that the complaints were “not substantiated”. However, counsel assisting the commission, Jeremy Stoljar, SC, attacked the review on Tuesday during questioning of a CFMEU legal officer, Tom Roberts. Stoljar put to Roberts that the Slevin report was “simply a whitewash” that “skates over” the claims of union links to Alex raised by Quirk. It emerged that while Roberts had made notes about Slevin’s investigations, he had no written record of questions being asked about the key allegation that union officials were associating with people with criminal connections. Roberts said he may not have made notes but believed the matter was asked about. Roberts also touched in his statement on Eoin O’Neill, the former manager of building company Lis-Con, who accused the union of demanding corrupt payments and running a campaign to force his company out of Queensland. Roberts said a Queensland union official had told him that O’Neill had refused to pay workers’ superannuation and had a history of “phoenixing” – letting companies collapse without paying workers their owed entitlements. O’Neill is suing the union for defamation in separate proceedings. The royal commission continues in Sydney on Wednesday. |