Coalition secures amendments, will vote for Labor bill to appoint administrators to CFMEU
The Coalition will help Labor pass a bill to appoint administrators to the construction union, after securing amendments toughening the proposal addressing accusations of criminal misconduct and bikie links.
On Monday the shadow workplace relations minister, Michaelia Cash, said the government had agreed to key demands, including a minimum administration period of three years with powers for the administrator to permanently ban officials, down from five years as first proposed by Labor.
The government held out by refusing Coalition demands to insert an amendment banning political donations from the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union, which Cash told the Senate on Thursday had donated more than $6m to Labor since Anthony Albanese became leader in 2019.
But Cash told reporters in Canberra that the administrator had written to the workplace relations minister, Murray Watt, setting out that his goals included ensuring the CFMEU would not “incur any form of political campaign expenditure or make party political donations”.
“I am prepared to accept that,” she said.
Cash said the opposition had increased “transparency” by ensuring the administrator would report to parliament every six months, while the Fair Work Commission would also be accountable at Senate estimates.
In July, Tony Burke, then workplace relations minister, called the Australian federal police to investigate corruption allegations against the CFMEU after reports suggesting the union’s construction arm had been infiltrated by bikies and criminals.
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In August Watt revealed to Guardian Australia the government would push for new powers to appoint administrators, citing delays in a Fair
Work Commission application to the federal court to appoint barrister Mark Irving as independent administrator.
Last week, the Coalition combined with the Greens in the Senate to prevent Labor bringing the bill to a vote.
On Monday in question time Burke lashed them for that decision, suggesting former Victorian construction secretary John Setka might celebrate with tattoos between his knuckles reading L-O-V-E P-E-T-E Dutton.
But it was clear earlier on Monday the Coalition and Labor were closing in on a deal as the major parties combined to pass a motion criticising the Greens for their “conspicuous silence” on the bill.
The motion, which passed 36 votes to 10, noted the Greens had “not ruled out receiving any donations from the CFMEU while it is under administration”.
After the deal, the Greens leader, Adam Bandt, accused Labor of working with the “anti-union, anti-worker Liberals” instead of the Greens to pass legislation that “means that if there is a change of government, Michaelia Cash could appoint Tony Abbott to be administrator of one of Australia’s most significant unions”.
“Civil liberties groups have rightly said this bill is a threat to freedom of association and the rights of all unions and membership-based organisations,”
he said.
On Monday the national secretary of the CFMEU’s construction division, Zach Smith, said the bill was a “sad indictment” on the government and called the Labor-Coalition deal “as shameful as it is unnecessary”.
“It undermines the democratic rights of our members to control their own future and impinges on the principles of procedural fairness and natural justice,” he said.
“The allegations put by the media are very concerning and have been taken seriously by the union, with an independent investigation already launched, a governance review commissioned and individuals either removed from the union or stood down pending the investigation.
“These allegations remain exactly that – allegations – completely untested in the legal system.”
Cash told reporters that “stakeholders and the Coalition have made it very, very clear this is but the first step in the process”.
Cash noted Dutton had introduced bills to restore the Australian Building and Construction Commission – which was abolished after Labor was elected in 2022 – and the ensuring integrity bill, a bill for higher penalties for industrial law breaches which the Coalition failed to pass in office.