Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union

The Hon. B.R. HOOD (15:45): The opposition and industry have repeatedly warned the government about the consequences of the Victorian CFMEU taking over the South Australian branch of the union. You would not have to be a rocket scientist to see that John Setka's hostile takeover would end badly, but nevertheless our warnings have fallen on deaf ears. Thuggish and threatening behaviour quickly became entrenched as they immediately sought to replicate the toxic Victorian model. Worse still, their anti-South Australian approach saw more and more work going to Victorian businesses at the expense of locals, as money flowed to the Victorian CFMEU office in Melbourne.

For the last two years, the South Australian CFMEU has been run out of Melbourne. Does anyone seriously think that John Setka and the Victorians came here because they care about the state? Are they here to pillage, like the conquistadors of old? Just this week, it was revealed that the John Setka takeover has been investigated by the administrator, Mark Irving KC. Union spending, kickbacks and underworld links are all being examined.

Former SA head, Marcus Pare, allegedly received benefits in return for enterprise agreements, had links to organised crime and granted himself pay rises. Is anyone surprised that a man hand-picked by John Setka is being investigated for pretty much running the exact same playbook as Victoria?

Incredibly, the South Australian CFMEU had run a small surplus prior to Setka's takeover, but has now accumulated an astonishing $1.6 million in losses by 2024. Even if Mr Pare's spending is found to be illegitimate or out of control, clearly those Incolink rivers of gold that the Victorian CFMEU enjoys have not been shared to anywhere near the same degree in South Australia, if at all, despite the Victorian CFMEU's attempts to force local South Australian employers to pay into the fund.

Incolink is an infamous organisation, severely lacking in transparency but widely seen as a Trojan Horse to funnel money to third parties that until recently had Mr Setka on the board, and gives the Victorian CFMEU tens of millions of dollars each year. We have to ask the question: has the local CFMEU been played for fools by the Victorians?

This toxic Victorian agenda continues even in administration. Today's Advertiser features a local construction boss highlighting that the Victorian CFMEU continues to pressure local builders to use Victorian subcontractors. Recently, the opposition spoke to a group of local SA employers who highlighted this trend on major government jobs, including the new Women's and Children's Hospital.

Acting CFMEU head, Travis Hera-Singh, in The Advertiser today did not deny this had occurred, simply saying that the era of Victorian or interstate companies coming in and taking precedence over South Australian companies employing South Australian members is over—but is it? Local construction businesses tell me otherwise.

Rather than trying to pick off South Australian employers one by one and get them to pay into Incolink, just bring in Victorian businesses who already do. It is quite a simple equation for the Victorian CFMEU. The more businesses that pay into Incolink and the higher the rate, the more money that ends up back in Victorian CFMEU coffers.

One Victorian business that this group of employers told me is being pushed hard by the Victorian CFMEU is Vamp Cranes. Nick McKenzie's Building Bad exposé, which ultimately forced the Albanese government to put the CFMEU into administration, notes:

New crane company Vamp has also secured lucrative contracts on CFMEU-controlled sites. Vamp Crane's shareholding records reveal that until earlier this year one of Vamp's owners was a business entity named in police intelligence as having deep suspected links to Middle Eastern organised crime and drug trafficking, and was recently targeted by fire bombings.

This is the kind of organisation that the Victorian CFMEU, even in administration, has rolled out the red carpet for in South Australia. The Victorian construction industry is a basket case, plagued by corruption, organised crime and high insolvencies, including the largest residential builder in the state. Victoria is broke. The money is drying up, so the CFMEU want to come into South Australia and replicate an approach that has hugely benefited that union but has been a disaster for everyday people and industry.