Key Points
- Legislation will be introduced to federal parliament next week to force the CFMEU into administration.
- Corruption allegations against the CFMEU led to Labor's national executive and multiple state branches cutting ties.
- The legislative move comes after the CFMEU faced court over an application to appoint an external administrator.
The federal government will introduce legislation to force a division of the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU) into administration, Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt says.
Watt confirmed the move on Friday, saying the new laws would give the minister the power to decide whether it's in the public interest to appoint an administrator to the union's construction and general division.
"This is a significant step taken to clean up one division of one union," he told reporters.
"The legislation will not apply to other unions or divisions of the CFMEU, other than the construction and general division."
Watt said it was clear that the CFMEU would "not consent" to .
He said the union's national secretary Zach Smith had contacted him on Thursday afternoon to say consent "only remains a possibility".
"We cannot stand by and allow a once proud union to be infiltrated by bikies and organised crime or have leading and thuggery as part of its day-to-day business," Watt said.
He added: "Urgent action is required and it is required now."
The CFMEU over allegations of corruption and links to organised crime figures.
The CFMEU is one of Australia's biggest unions. Source: AAP / Joel Carrett
The legislative move comes after the CFMEU faced the federal court on Tuesday over the administrator application, which was delayed because the presiding judge disclosed he had a conflict of interest.
In a video posted to social media on Saturday, Smith said the push to appoint external administrators was "significant" and it was "considering advice" from the union's legal team.
The government's proposed legislation would force officers, employees and professional advisers to the CFMEU's construction and general division to cooperate with any administrator, including providing them with all required information and documents.
Those who don't comply or try to frustrate or undermine the administration process would face significant penalties.
Anyone reporting wrongdoing within the union would be safeguarded by whistleblower protections.
Watt said "you could bet your bottom dollar" that the union would move to challenge the proposed legislation in court, but that the way it was drafted meant it would "withstand legal challenge".
In response to Watt's announcement, Smith accused the government of "blue-collar paternalism", describing the proposed legislation as "a full-frontal attack" on the CFMEU.
"Put simply, the government has undermined the legal process and stripped us of our rights to a fair process," he wrote in a letter to union members on Friday.
"It has also not given us the opportunity to address the issues in our union."
Smith noted that the CFMEU had set up an independent investigation into alleged criminal wrongdoing, commissioned a review of the union's governance arrangements, and introduced a new National Code of Conduct for all delegates.
"On top of this, we have removed individuals from the union and stood down others pending the investigation," he said.
"The fact is that the government has ignored all of this and jumped ahead to target us with extraordinary laws."
The Opposition said the government wasn't going far enough.
"Murray Watt is all talk. He's been a proud cheerleader for the CFMEU for many years and is now pretending he's getting tough on them," the Opposition's employment and workplace spokesperson Michaelia Cash said in a statement on Friday.
"The Albanese government needs to introduce legislation to deregister the CFMEU when parliament returns next week," she said.
