They sure are a lovely bunch, over on the Labor left. If it’s not foaming anti-Semites, it’s union thugs. And when it comes to thugs, they don’t come much more thuggish than the CFMEU. Unions are, of course, not just Labor’s puppet masters, they’re its paymasters. The CFMEU has donated millions to Labor.
They make sure to get plenty of bang for their buck: one of Labor’s first moves in government was to abolish the Australian Building and Construction Commission, a watchdog designed to root out corruption and criminal activity in the building industry.
It sure had its work cut out for it. As has been previously reported, the construction industry in Victoria, especially, resembles nothing so much as a criminal cartel. Front companies run by bikie gangs and drug dealers are practically running some of the biggest construction sites in the country.
But the thuggery and criminality is far from confined to Victoria.
More than five CFMEU organisers in Queensland have been moved on in the wake of a damning inquiry that accused the union’s former state leadership of running a “violent, cruel, misogynistic” regime that targeted children and betrayed the core values of unionism.
CFMEU administrator Mark Irving KC said the damning report by anti-corruption barrister Geoffrey Watson alleged that under former leaders Michael Ravbar and Jade Ingham, the Queensland branch “embraced a culture that encouraged and celebrated the use of threats of violence, intimidation, misogyny and bullying”.
“Under the former Ravbar-Ingham leadership, family members were treated as fair game for abuse, threats and intimidation,” Mr Irving said in his official response to the report, released on Wednesday night.
So, just another day at the construction union.
The activities of its backers make a mockery of Labor’s claims to woke sensitivity.
He said the conduct by individuals and groups of men outlined in Mr Watson’s report included physical and psychological threats, threats of sexual violence, stalking, spitting and abuse being aimed at members of the public, regulators, politicians, family members of CFMEU identified enemies, other unionists, and union leaders.
“These actions were certainly not limited to industrial action or picket lines,” Mr Irving said.
“Hostile, angry crowds of men calling people c. ts and dogs and sellouts is a breach of the CFMEU’s own definition of unacceptable violence at a workplace. It is an understatement to say it is wholly unacceptable […]
He cited a range of very serious threats such as “We know where you live”, “We know you have two young sons”, “Come outside so we can f. k you”, “There is a bullet with your name on it – we’re gonna get you”, “I want to take you outside and bash the shit out of you”, “We won’t stop coming for you – no one can protect you.”
It should be no surprise that a union until recently run in one state by a hulking thug with domestic violence convictions does a long line in woman bashing.
Mr Irving said the targeting of women was part of the “perverted model embraced by the former Ravbar-Ingham leadership” […]
“Female public servants, fellow unionists, politicians, family members of health and safety inspectors, media representatives have all been the subject of sex-specific harassment.
“There were multiple other witnesses who could not continue to give evidence and whose experiences are not in this report because of trauma and ongoing fear of retribution.”
Despite window-dressing efforts by Anthony Albanese to make a show of distancing the government from the union, it’s clear there’s still plenty of affection in Labor ranks.
Premier Jacinta Allan has failed a key test of her leadership by refusing to act on damning revelations that Labor MPs supported former CFMEU Secretary John Setka following his conviction for domestic violence offences […]
Reports today have revealed Victorian Labor MPs Bronwyn Halfpenny and Luba Grigorovitch sent messages of support to John Setka during this period, including “just wanted to say thinking of you and hope everything will be ok” and “we will get through this John xx”.
Despite these damning revelations, Premier Allan has today failed to remove Ms Halfpenny from her position as Parliamentary Secretary for Jobs.
Furthermore, the Premier refused to condemn these displays of support by her own MPs for a convicted domestic violence perpetrator.
But, hey, tell us more about the coalition’s supposed ‘woman problem’?
