Struck off but still raising cash: CFMEU-pushed sick kids' charity that is yet to deliver

The Age

10 hours ago

Separately, union insiders have long queried why the CFMEU supported boxing and other charity events run by gangland figure Mick Gatto, who is currently being probed by the federal police as a part of an investigation into suspected organised crime in the building industry.
The Team Taylor Foundation was set up by Henry and his family following the death of his 13-year-old daughter Taylor Henry from a rare heart infection in January 2018.
For six years, CFMEU members and their subcontractor employers poured thousands of dollars into the foundation at events held at work sites across Melbourne, including many of the government's Big Build sites.
According to its Instagram page, the Team Taylor Foundation raised $808,000 over six years selling merchandise like hoodies, T-shirts, beanies and hats.
That figure could be higher, with some earlier toolbox fundraising events not including the amount raised and the foundation conducting at least two other fundraisers on GoFundMe raising $14,155 and $2620.
The foundation raised money at boxing events featuring now Australian welterweight champion Jason 'Mayhem' Mallia and three major fundraising nights at Moonee Valley Racecourse. The foundation also sponsored Mallia in at least one fight, according to its social media page.
Yet, Team Taylor distributed hardly any of the cash it raised from CFMEU members and their employers. It posted on social media that it had made a $7000 gift to Taylor's high school in 2018 and signed a two-year sponsorship of a junior suburban football team in regional Victoria.
Henry confirmed to this masthead that most of the money raised was not distributed but insisted the rest of the cash raised remained in a bank account.
Team Taylor Foundation stopped its fundraising activities in mid-July 2024 and began selling its merchandise at steep discounts. The last post on the foundation's Instagram page was on July 12, 2024.
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The next day, a joint media investigation led by this masthead and 60 Minutes revealed organised crime gangs and bikies had corrupted the CMFEU and were running rampant on Victoria's Big Build sites.
Henry, a CFMEU delegate, was forced from his role as a union shop steward soon after that investigation – though he insisted to this masthead that he was currently out of work due to the poor economy.
According to a 2018 video launching the charity and featuring Henry speaking to CMFEU members at a work site, he said Team Taylor aimed to honour his daughter's memory and to help disadvantaged families facing similar issues.
'The goal of the foundation is to supply scholarships to kids, whether it's sporting, academic or community, because Taylor won a scholarship from grade six to year seven, and then she also won another scholarship from year eight for the rest of her high school career, but she never got to receive it because she passed away,' Henry says in the video.
'And the big one that we're aiming for - whether it takes years, it's irrelevant, because we signed up for 99 years for the foundation - so the big one we're aiming for is to buy a unit or a house within walking distance to the Children's Hospital.'
Henry in March confirmed the charity had not spent the money on those stated aims, adding that the money raised has been kept in a bank account that is only accessible by the foundation. He spoke to this masthead with his partner, Taylor's mother, present.
At the time, Henry said the foundation was changing accountants and would be preparing the full set of missing accounts for the regulator. He said the charity's new accountant had recommended not providing any financial information for this story.
Contacted again this month, Henry confirmed the charity had not filed any accounts since that meeting but claimed he had spoken to his accountants that day about pulling the foundation's books and records together.
Henry said the accounts would be ready in due course and that he accepted that 'we had f---ed up big time' in maintaining the charity's books and records. He again insisted the money sat in the foundation's bank account.
Henry provided an email from Team Taylor's new accountant, Mark Magri, that confirmed Magri was producing eight years of accounts for the foundation and had not 'found anything untoward'.
The email added: 'Perhaps confirm [to the journalists] that the funds of the charity have always been recycled into purchasing stock, running events and not for personal gain. The bank statements confirm this.'
Contacted on Thursday, Henry provided messages from his accountant indicating the foundation had this week filed five years of accounts for the charity with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission. The ACNC's website still shows the charity's status as 'revoked'.
Henry also hit back at suggestions that workers had been heavied into donating to the cause.
'You can print this any day of the week: That is complete and utter bulls---,' he said.
'I stand in front of, whether it's 10 people or 100 people, and I tell our daughter's story in detail.
'Workers have fainted because I go into depth about three open-heart surgeries, everything, everything that has happened to us personally, I stand there and talk to these workers about and once I finish that, which is a 15 to 20-minute talk, from me to them, we have our tubs of merchandise there … if people want to buy something, they can come and buy something.'
The foundation's constitution allows for the group to be wound up voluntarily by special resolution. That resolution would allow the charity to transfer its assets – including any cash – to a fund or institution that has purposes similar to the Team Taylor Foundation.
Henry said he and his partner would not be closing down the foundation and it still hoped to build a house for short-term accommodation for families with children with similar conditions to their daughter's.
'It's never, never crossed our mind to wind up,' Henry said.