Union leaders back corrupt CFMEU boss at May Day rally
International Transport Federation coordinator Paul McAleer, an ex-Maritime Union of Australia secretary now representing hundreds of thousands of wharfies in the Asia Pacific, told a rally of 1000 workers on Thursday that Greenfield was 'fearless' and he would stand by him 'forever'.
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Sydney Morning Herald
4 days ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Alleged hitman was handpicked as CFMEU health and safety man on Big Build
A CFMEU delegate accused of involvement in a brazen underworld execution was parachuted into his lucrative union health and safety role four months after he allegedly gunned down a gangland figure in a suburban car park. Muhammed Sayan was working as a union health and safety representative until a fortnight ago, when armed police arrested him over his alleged role in the shooting of gangland boss Robert Issa in October 2023. Multiple sources, speaking anonymously due to the sensitive nature of the information, confirmed that Sayan was not elected by his fellow workers, as required by law, but parachuted into his CFMEU position after a request to the union. That February 2024 request came from a company part-owned by members of a Middle Eastern crime gang suspected by police to be linked to Issa's death only months earlier. Sayan was arrested a fortnight ago and accused of being part of a five-man hit squad that killed Issa in a Craigieburn shopping centre car park. The details of how Sayan got his union role to maintain site health and safety — and kept it after the union was plunged into administration — come amid separate revelations about how union bosses and ex-bikies culled from the CFMEU have re-emerged as industry fixers or subcontractors to the Allan government's Big Build projects. They include allegedly corrupt ex-CFMEU assistant secretary Derek Christopher, who has hung up his shingle as an industry 'mediator' through his newly founded firm, Atlas Consulting; ex-union delegate and former Mongols outlaw bikie boss Tyrone Bell, who is now also an industrial relations fixer via a company called Dynamis Health and Safety Relations; and Rebels bikie figure and sacked Big Build CFMEU health and safety representative Joel Leavitt, who is launching a labour-hire company. Gangland figure Mick Gatto is also still attempting to engage in deal-making with senior union officials.
The Age
4 days ago
- The Age
Alleged hitman was handpicked as CFMEU health and safety man on Big Build
A CFMEU delegate accused of involvement in a brazen underworld execution was parachuted into his lucrative union health and safety role four months after he allegedly gunned down a gangland figure in a suburban car park. Muhammed Sayan was working as a union health and safety representative until a fortnight ago, when armed police arrested him over his alleged role in the shooting of gangland boss Robert Issa in October 2023. Multiple sources, speaking anonymously due to the sensitive nature of the information, confirmed that Sayan was not elected by his fellow workers, as required by law, but parachuted into his CFMEU position after a request to the union. That February 2024 request came from a company part-owned by members of a Middle Eastern crime gang suspected by police to be linked to Issa's death only months earlier. Sayan was arrested a fortnight ago and accused of being part of a five-man hit squad that killed Issa in a Craigieburn shopping centre car park. The details of how Sayan got his union role to maintain site health and safety — and kept it after the union was plunged into administration — come amid separate revelations about how union bosses and ex-bikies culled from the CFMEU have re-emerged as industry fixers or subcontractors to the Allan government's Big Build projects. They include allegedly corrupt ex-CFMEU assistant secretary Derek Christopher, who has hung up his shingle as an industry 'mediator' through his newly founded firm, Atlas Consulting; ex-union delegate and former Mongols outlaw bikie boss Tyrone Bell, who is now also an industrial relations fixer via a company called Dynamis Health and Safety Relations; and Rebels bikie figure and sacked Big Build CFMEU health and safety representative Joel Leavitt, who is launching a labour-hire company. Gangland figure Mick Gatto is also still attempting to engage in deal-making with senior union officials.
Sydney Morning Herald
4 days ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
A rapist and bully but beloved by Boomers: The turbulent history of Gareth Ward
In the aftermath of the March 2023 state election, Berry business owner Kate Dezarnaulds posed a powerful question on social media. How could the voters of Kiama, in good conscience, return an MP to parliament with serious sexual assault charges hanging over his head? 'What is wrong with my community,' Dezarnaulds asked, 'when multiple victims of sexual assault are disbelieved by half our residents? What is wrong with my community when having a member who is unable to enter their place of work or cast a vote on our behalf is good enough for half of our residents?' Dezarnaulds was referring to the now convicted rapist and former MP Gareth Ward. Ward re-contested Kiama as an independent after being forced to quit the Liberal Party in 2021 and move to the crossbench while he awaited his trial for historical sexual assault charges. For almost two years, he was barred from parliament after a successful suspension motion, and while his margin in the once-safe seat was slashed in 2023, he was returned as the MP for Kiama. The response to Dezarnaulds' post was swift, but not from Kiama voters. Rather, Ward called in RMB Lawyers, his go-to firm on the South Coast when people dared to criticise him. Ward threatened to sue Dezarnaulds for defamation. Dezarnaulds printed the apology demanded from Ward's lawyers, insisting she did not intend to suggest he was guilty of anything. Dezarnaulds went on to contest the May federal election as a Climate 200-backed independent in the seat of Gilmore. Ward continued his attacks on her during the election campaign, including lodging a complaint with the Australian Electoral Commission about her how-to-vote cards. The commission took no action. RMB Lawyers, by all accounts, has done well thanks to Ward's litigious streak. Dezarnaulds estimates he has sent concerns notices, the first step in signalling defamation proceedings, to dozens of people across the South Coast. In one case, he threatened to sue former Greens candidate and academic Tonia Gray. Gray did not want to comment, preferring to never think about Ward again. But after his conviction for the indecent and sexual assault of two young men, and his subsequent refusal to resign from parliament, Gray posted on Facebook: 'I'm speechless about the audacity of this man. We know he is a bully, we have been on the receiving end of his attacks.' (The Herald also received a concerns notice from Ward via RMB Lawyers after writing that he had made calls supporting the preselection of his friend and ex-Liberal colleague Rory Amon ahead of the 2023 election. Amon's political career ended up being short-lived, and he has since quit parliament after being charged with child sexual assault, which he denies. Ward's legal threat against the Herald went nowhere.)
