Queensland’s Deputy Premier and Minister for Industrial Relations Jarrod Bleijie says the Labor Party has been protecting and enabling the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU) for the past decade after the release of the ‘Violence in the Queensland CFMEU’ report.
Bleijie wants the Labor Party to explain why “they let this systemic violence including the abuse of women and children go unchecked for so long”.
“The CFMEU’s militant behaviour must be condemned at every level, and I call on the Labor Party to explain why they allowed this systemic horror to go unchecked for a decade,” he says.
Some of the alleged experiences from CFMEU opponents, laid out in Geoffrey Watson’s ‘Violence in the Queensland CFMEU’ report, include statements such as “there’s a bullet with your name on it”, “we know where you live”, and “we know you have two sons”.
According to Bleijie, in 2020, a female public servant was locked in a room of the CFMEU offices and allegedly berated by Michael Ravbar for 15 minutes.
CFMEU Administrator Mark Irving says, in a response to Watson’s report, under the former leadership, led by Ravbar and Jade Ingham, the Queensland branch embraced a culture which encouraged and celebrated the use of threats and violence, intimidation, misogyny, and bullying.
As previously reported, CFMEU’s Victorian branch was placed into administration in July 2024, following an emergency meeting of national executives amid allegations of underworld figures purportedly infiltrating various construction projects.
In a blanket statement sent to Mining.com.au addressing the matter, National Secretary CFMEU, Construction and General Division Zach Smith says placing the Victorian branch administration and having the national office assume all senior executive powers is an “unprecedented” decision.
The CFMEU says this is the first time in the union’s history that this kind of action has been taken. In a response to members, Smith adds that “cancel culture will never be our culture”.
Less than two months later, the Western Australian Government suspended the WA branch of the CFMEU. This news came after allegations of serious misconduct by CFMEU branches in the eastern states, as well as concerns recently being raised regarding the conduct of individuals in the Western Australian branch, as reported.
The CFMEU is Australia’s main trade union in construction, forestry, maritime, textile, clothing and footwear production, with offices in all capital cities around the country.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: CFMEU
