CFMEU inquiry LIVE updates: Mark Irving gives evidence as hearings continue for third day in Queensland
Yesterday, we heard evidence of a conscious campaign to push the Australian Workers Union off civil construction sites, to emulate what the CFMEU’s Victorian branch had achieved under disgraced former boss John Setka.
The man brought in to probe violence in the CFMEU’s Queensland branch, Geoffrey Watson.Credit: Rob Homer
Investigator Geoffrey Watson SC told the inquiry hostilities between the union and the AWU, its main rival on large infrastructure projects, were a matter of economic significance to the entire nation.
Watson said troubles had ramped up in line with state investment in big infrastructure projects – “tunnels, railways, things which normally fall within the jurisdiction of the AWU”.
“If you’ve only got one union covering all of these areas, they’re given far, far too much power in those negotiations. You can imagine the pressure that’s about to be placed on scarce labour resources here [in Queensland] with the Olympics coming along.”
Watson was also quizzed about several of the incidents that featured in his 45-page report on violence in the CFMEU, including violent incidents at Centenary Bridge and Cross River Rail sites, and hostility towards women.
