Victoria government cracks down on CFMEU

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The Victorian government is moving to crack down on misconduct in the construction industry. It's in the wake of allegations about bullying and intimidation within the CFMEU, as well as infiltration by organised crime.

Transcript

00:00The government here in Victoria has announced it will introduce a fit and proper person

00:06test for people working in the construction industry.

00:09Now this will be aimed at labour hire firms to weed out criminal behaviour.

00:13So it would weed out people with serious criminal convictions as well as people with links to

00:18organised crime.

00:19Now this is in the wake of those serious allegations against the CFMEU levelled earlier this year.

00:25Allegations of misconduct, of bullying and intimidation within the union and also allegations

00:29that organised crime had infiltrated that union.

00:33Now the Premier Jacinta Allen commissioned an independent report, independent review

00:37done by Greg Wilson earlier this year and that's been handed down today, made public

00:41today.

00:43Inside that report there were eight recommendations aimed at improving this industry.

00:47In addition to that fit and proper person, he's also called for building company bosses

00:52to be compelled to report illegal activity or suspicions of illegal activity to a regulator.

00:59He's also said that there should be an alliance between state and federal governments to oversee

01:03and then act on allegations of misconduct in the industry.

01:08Inside that report he noted that violence was an accepted part of the culture within

01:12the union and reports were rarely made to police.

01:15He said he found that there were entrenched union issues at government work sites and

01:19stronger interventions may still be needed.

01:22Now this report did look at the government's big build sites around here in Victoria.

01:26These are multi-billion dollar work projects including the Metro Tunnel here in Victoria

01:31and the Westgate Tunnel projects as well in addition to others.

01:35Now the Premier has said that these changes will require legislative change.

01:39Parliament has broken up for the year already this year and it won't be back until February

01:43next year.

01:44Now she said that consultation will be required.

01:47She said that that could take some time and has indicated that it might not be until sometime

01:51later next year that legislation might be ready.

01:54These changes are big, these changes need to happen and they go to the fact that we

01:58have zero tolerance, zero tolerance for this behaviour and we'll work incredibly hard to

02:04pull this rotten culture out by its roots as we continue to strengthen the work here

02:09in Victoria.

02:10Now she has suggested that she would like that legislation to be complete and put to

02:14Parliament as soon as possible.

02:16In addition to that Greg Wilson has recommended that a review is done within two years time

02:21to see where this regulation and this new look at the industry has gotten to.

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