Minister hits back as $111,000 icare payment to union comes to light

Industrial Relations Minister Sophie Cotsis has hit back at a NSW opposition push to frame a workers’ compensation payment as a donation to the Electrical Trades Union, one of the largest financial backers of the NSW Labor Party and a key supporter of the disgraced CFMEU.

The opposition seized on a disclosure from the ETU to the Australian Electoral Commission, in a budget estimates hearing on Tuesday. It later emerged the union had followed electoral laws.

The ETU declared a $111,124 payment from the state’s public insurer icare for 2024-25. When asked at the budget estimates hearing, Cotsis initially said the payment could be for training.

However, a statement from icare later confirmed it was a reimbursement for a workers’ compensation payment, not a donation or funding for training. Under federal electoral laws, all “associated entities” must declare all money flowing into the organisation, including from government bodies and agencies.

The opposition had thought the money was being funnelled into the ETU’s training arm, which is headed by ousted former CFMEU president Rita Mallia, who was sacked from her role when an administrator was appointed to the troubled construction union.

Mallia – a close ally of corrupt former CFMEU secretary Darren Greenfield – was appointed chief executive of the ETU’s Electrogroup after she was sacked from the CFMEU in 2024. In February last year, anti-corruption expert Geoffrey Watson, SC, in a report ordered by the union’s administrator, recommended civil charges be brought against Mallia, the CFMEU’s former NSW branch president.

The opposition’s treasury spokesman Scott Farlow asked Cotsis if the payment was a “taxpayer-funded golden parachute” for a union boss who was pushed out of the CFMEU, while the Coalition’s spokesman on industrial relations James Wallace said the payment was “alarming”.

Cotsis said Farlow “either deliberately mischaracterised a workers’ compensation payment as a donation or worse he doesn’t understand how the rules work”.

“Either way, he should correct the record. By the Liberals’ standard the Office of State Revenue under the Liberal government was also a donor to the ETU,” Cotsis said in a statement.

Cotsis also revealed in estimates that she had held one meeting with former ETU president Glen Potter, a long-term senior official with the union who is facing charges including firearm offences and dealing with proceeds of crime.

NSW Police allegedly found 167 guns at Potter’s Illawarra house and more than $120,000 in cash.

When asked about the charges at a budget estimates hearing last Thursday, Premier Chris Minns denied knowing Potter and agreed he would not accept future donations from the official.

Refusing donations from the ETU entirely was unreasonable, Minns said.

“If you’re within an organisation and someone’s alleged to have acted inappropriately, it doesn’t mean that every member of the organisation has acted inappropriately,” he said.

In a statement, the ETU said Potter would be taking leave effective immediately.

“During this period, the president will not be involved in any financial, operational or governance matters of the union, nor represent the ETU in any official capacity,” the statement said.

The ETU wants a multi-employer agreement covering the NSW electrical contracting industry, prompting fears construction costs would be pushed up and hand the union unprecedented bargaining power.

Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.

CLARIFICATION

An earlier version of this story said icare donated money to the ETU and CFMEU, based on information provided at budget estimates.