00:00The NSW Secretary Darren Greenfield and his son Michael were charged in 2021 with corruption
00:07offences. It's alleged the men in 2020 solicited and accepted payments from the owner of a
00:14building company in exchange for preferential treatment from the union. Now the nine newspapers
00:21have today published images which the outlet says show Mr Greenfield receiving money under
00:28a table receiving a wad of cash and then placing it in a desk drawer. It says that these images
00:34were captured from a hidden police camera. The Greenfields deny the charges and these
00:39allegations remain before the courts and are yet to be tested by a jury and nevertheless
00:45the allegations have prompted a response from the NSW Premier Chris Minns who has described
00:51the allegations as appalling. He says it shows the CFMEU's construction and general
00:57division is clearly either incapable or unwilling of cleaning itself up. I've been all ears from the
01:05CFMEU in NSW for an explanation or perhaps a resignation in the last five hours and absolutely
01:12nothing has been forthcoming. Now under those circumstances we are left with no alternative
01:18other than to take what is unprecedented action in NSW. The NSW Government is seeking to
01:24appoint an independent administrator to take over the management of the CFMEU in NSW.
01:31The State Government is also asking the NSW branch of the Labor Party to immediately suspend
01:37its affiliation with the CFMEU and to stop accepting political donations or and affiliation
01:43fees. Electoral Commission records show that between 2019 and 2023 the NSW branch of the ALP
01:53received $380,000 in donations from the construction and general division of the CFMEU.
02:01The State Opposition is calling for a Royal Commission into the operation of the CFMEU
02:06and it also says that the ALP should hand back any political donations as well as affiliation
02:13fees it's received since the alleged offences took place. This is dirty money, it is tainted money
02:21and it is money which for the last three years have been collected against a background where
02:26the Labor Party knew of these allegations. To suggest that we only found out about them today
02:32is just complete nonsense. The Premier has effectively ruled out handing back any donations
02:38saying that the money has already been spent and that doing so would involve raising money
02:43from its donors from mums and dads to hand over to the union. The Premier faced some questions
02:48about why he didn't take action early this week. He said that he did take action back in 2021 as
02:54opposition leader removing the greenfields from the Labor Party when those allegations surfaced.
03:01The ABC has contacted the CFMEU for comment but we're yet to hear back.
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