Bombshell report into CFMEU Queensland branch uncovers shock allegations of violence, exposes union's grip on former Labor government
Barrister Geoffrey Watson SC was commissioned by Administrator Mark Irving KC to investigate claims the CFMEU's state branch had been infiltrated by criminal networks, after it was placed into administration last year.
The review cited claims by a public servant that the CFMEU in Queensland believed it had the power to draft new laws after Labor returned to power in the state in 2015.
Mr Watson's three-month investigation was summarised in a 45-page report obtained by The Courier Mail.
He conducted 55 interviews with officials and members of the CFMEU, politicians, bystanders and victims of abuse, trade unionists and others.
'When Labor recovered government in Queensland in February 2015 the CFMEU seems to have regarded itself as having taken over administering industrial relations,' he wrote in the report.
Mr Watson said he was told in confidence by Labor ministers that the CFMEU was the most aggressive trade union.
'Australian politics, especially at a state level, is notoriously robust; strong criticism is common,' Mr Watson said.
'Even by those standards the CFMEU went too far.'
He suggested ex-CFMEU state secretary Michael Ravbar was to blame for the union becoming more violent.
'That does not entitle him or anyone to engage in persistent, threatening abuse,' he wrote.
'If the CFMEU was sliding into violence, the slide was starting from the top.'
The report quoted claims from a public servant that a CFMEU official hectored them with phrases such as "you're now working for us" when they visited the union's offices at Bowen Hills in 2015.
'The theme was consistent – I am your boss now, " a union representative told the consultative team at the meeting according to the report.
Mr Watson said he feared the investigation had "only scratched the surface".
He said the union breached its anti-violence policy to achieve the outcomes that fit its agenda.
"The CFMEU in Queensland actually intended to inflict physical, sexual, emotional, and economic abuse on others," the report said.
"The CFMEU used threats and coercion deliberately to cause fear.
"This included, if necessary, destroying individuals and businesses. The CFMEU is ruthless — it will crush anyone offering any resistance to it."
Allegations of abuse were also noted, including on one occasion where three men are said to have approached a Workplace Health and Safety inspector at a funeral and called him a "c***" and a "f***ing dog".
In another instance, the 21-year-old daughter of an inspector was allegedly told her father was a "f***ing c***" by a man who approached her while she was at a gym.
The report highlighted disturbing examples of abuse towards women, with Mr Watson describing it as what "might just be the single worst aspect of the violence perpetrated by the CFMEU".
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