Fair Work chief launches scathing attack over government inaction on construction crime, corruption

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The nation’s union and employer group watchdog has attacked Australia’s biggest infrastructure contractors for their entrenched failure to act on the corruption and lawlessness that has seen the all-powerful CFMEU enter administration.

In a rare and explosive public intervention, Fair Work Commission chief Murray Furlong said a once-in-a-generation opportunity to clean up the construction sector was at risk because of inaction by those earning billions of dollars from taxpayers.

Fair Work Commission General Manager Murray Furlong.

He singled out Victorian projects for hosting more alleged corruption, intimidation and union and bikie standover activity than any other jurisdiction in the country.

Furlong identified multiple landmark government projects allegedly infiltrated by criminal or unlawful behaviour, including the Western Sydney Airport and corresponding rail link, the Gold Coast light rail, and Victoria’s North East Link, Suburban Rail Loop and Metro Tunnel.

The move by Furlong, an avowedly apolitical public servant, to call out Victoria and the so-called tier-one contractors working across Australia on major state and federal projects highlights his frustration as the most senior public servant driving to clean up the construction sector.

In a speech to an industry conference on Friday, Furlong praised the work of CFMEU administrator Mark Irving, KC, which has led to up to two dozen officials and staff being forced out of the union’s Victorian branch in the past fortnight, as well as more than two dozen forced redundancies over the past few months at branches in NSW, Queensland and other states.

Irving’s torching of certain factions responsible for transforming Australia’s most powerful union into the country’s most corrupt and lawless was preceded by the sacking of CFMEU bosses last year – in direct response to this masthead’s ongoing Building Bad series – including bribe-taking NSW chief Darren Greenfield and those loyal to disgraced ex-union Victorian strongman John Setka.

However, in contrast to his support of Irving, Furlong was scathing of industry and government inaction. His presentation included a slide titled “The behaviour you walk past is the behaviour you accept”.

“Mr Irving and his considerable efforts need to be matched by all other major participants in the industry. This includes tier-one builders, their clients and funders, major contractors, employer associations and other unions, in addition to state and Commonwealth governments,” he said.

“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reform behaviours across the industry – for the benefit of all industry participants, and our community more broadly.”

The CFMEU has been placed into administration.

Furlong revealed the Fair Work Commission had collected and triaged over 1050 complaints of industry misconduct, spanning allegations of “coercion, corruption, bribery, extortion”, union standover activity, sexual harassment and “criminal infiltration, outlaw motorcycle gang involvement and control, and supply of illicit drugs on sites”.

More than 600 of these reports relate to alleged conduct on construction sites that are located in Victoria, he said, followed by Queensland and NSW.

“There is a significant and disproportionate over-representation of alleged illegal conduct on construction sites located in Victoria – so approximately 60 per cent of all reports coming from the one state.

“Most of the alleged conduct falls outside my jurisdiction, so I have shared this information with other regulators, law enforcement agencies and other government bodies.”

While stressing most of the allegations were as yet unproven, Furlong said they had been “very important in shedding further light on the scale of the issues” and that state and federal government-funded infrastructure projects featured heavily in the allegations of crime and corruption.

Furlong’s frustration builds on the view held by dozens of industry watchers who have briefed this masthead over the last year and include senior unionists, law enforcement officials and building company figures.

While they all acknowledge police agencies in Victoria and, to a lesser extent NSW, have stepped up efforts to combat crime in the construction sector, governments in both states remain unwilling to fully and thoroughly confront the corruption deeply embedded in taxpayer-funded major projects.

Furlong’s most pointed criticism was reserved for major government contractors.

While he didn’t name any specific players, this masthead has previously reported how almost all the tier-one contractors – which include Webuild, Lend Lease, Laing O’Rourke, John Holland and Acciona – have been variously accused of enabling or failing to adequately respond to union corruption or organised crime infiltration.

In NSW, multinational giant Webuild stands accused of turning a blind eye to serious alleged corruption on the Western Sydney Airport metro project, while multiple tier-one companies working on Victoria’s rail level crossing projects acquiesced to union demands to install bikie gang members on projects.

Furlong was scathing of what he called the “activities and inactivity of tier-one builders”.

“In my 25 years, I have not observed any discernible, consistent leadership from this cohort to actively contribute to fixing the endemic issues that have persisted for decades,” he said.

“The size of these builders and their boards, management and legal and compliance units provide a heightened ability and, I would say, responsibility to start showing conspicuous leadership – to start proactively contributing to the solutions, and stop relying on the actions of others. I am hopeful they will step up soon.”