“So long as Mr Smith remains on the national executive of the Labor Party, and the prime minister relies on Zach Smith’s numbers, the prime minister will be tainted by his connection.”
Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth aggressively countered Wilson in back-to-back questions, saying a clean-up of the union was never going to be straightforward.
“I can reassure this house that we have done more in our term in government than those on the other side. We are taking this seriously. The shadow minister might want to pretend he’s in university politics, throwing around accusations, while we’re the adults in the room,” she said.
Albanese was in Malaysia on Monday and could not be asked about the CFMEU, but Wilson accused him of dodging questions from journalists last week.
The Albanese government decided to put an administrator in charge of the disgraced union instead of deregistering it altogether when allegations of mass corruption were uncovered by this masthead last year.
Rishworth maintained her position that the administration was the best way to clean up the scandal-ridden union.
Rishworth also pointed to the administration’s sacking of officials, despite the latest high-profile departure being in response to evidence revealed by this masthead. She also said more than 500 complaints had been received under its anonymous whistleblowing process, despite insiders voicing concerns that the administration was not properly investigating complaints or protecting those who had come forward.
Wilson and Liberal senator Maria Kovacic said the Coalition would push for a Senate inquiry into the government-led takeover of the union. The Coalition would need the Greens’ support for the inquiry to be established. The Greens had not seen the motion for an inquiry by Monday afternoon.
This masthead’s report on Monday, which followed days of detail about ongoing fraud inside the union, showed that Irving ditched two anti-corruption teams, leaving serious misconduct allegations untouched as crooked officials took up key roles.
“We absolutely want Mark Irving, KC, and those involved in the administration to front up before the parliament,” Wilson said.
Wilson said the continuing drip of information about the Labor-appointed administration was shocking, and argued Rishworth was in hiding over the scandal.
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“We have Mick Gatto and [ousted former Victorian secretary] John Setka continuing to associate with the CFMEU officials with the approval of the administrator,” he said.
“We had evidence of bribery continuing to be paid, and cartel kickbacks being paid with the knowledge of the administrator.
“What we’re not seeing is any action from the government.”
Irving has established a policy effectively forbidding contact between union staff and Gatto, who has accused the administrator of acting unlawfully and vowed to keep representing construction firms.
Irving said in a statement last week that he was determined to continue his work to clean up the union. Progress varied by state, he said, depending on the “differing types of connection between industry and organised crime”.
“Much important work remains to be done. This will take considerable time, as is reflected in the governing statutory timeframes. The success of the work done will be properly judged over time,” Irving said.
“We continue to call on the industry, regulators and governments to assist in the broader challenge of ridding the construction industry of corruption, and for employers to stand up and stop the practice of enabling organised crime.”
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