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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-08-20 Daily Xml
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Incolink

The Hon. B.R. HOOD (15:30): I rise today on a matter that cuts to the core of accountability and transparency in South Australia. It is something that I have spoken about previously in this place, and it concerns this Labor government's dealing with the CFMEU-linked redundancy fund, Incolink. This is not a minor industrial issue: it is a scheme already operating in South Australia, one that is funnelling millions across the border to Victoria directly into the hands of the CFMEU.

The facts are alarming. As reported in The Australian recently, since 2020 Incolink has received more than $78 million in commissions from insurance brokers. Every insurance policy signed up for provides a clip to Incolink, which then flows back to the CFMEU under the guise of training. When the Victorian CFMEU took over the SA branch, one of the first moves they made was to shift all their insurance work out of Adelaide and into a firm called Windsor Management, whose head office just happens to be right next door to the Incolink building in Carlton.

In 2024 alone, $21 million was transferred from Incolink to the Victorian CFMEU. Let me say that again: a Victorian redundancy fund, now operating in SA, has transferred $21 million to the Victorian CFMEU. How much money was from this state? These are staggering figures, and they are not subject to meaningful regulation. No real public scrutiny, just tens of millions of dollars being funnelled from workers and employees into the union coffers. That is no coincidence: it is part of a deliberate strategy to embed this model into South Australia.

What makes this situation even more concerning is who is behind it. Incolink's CEO, Erik Locke, is no stranger to controversy. He is a former Labor staffer and Labor Party state secretary who was forced to resign as Chief of Staff to the Western Australian Deputy Premier after an appalling bullying scandal. Locke sent degrading messages to a female colleague suggesting that she undergo liposuction. With a stench like this, it is no wonder Incolink have now employed former Dan Andrews spin doctor Christian Bombig to try to improve their image.

Now, Erik Locke is lobbying the Premier of South Australia, and lobby he has. Documents released under freedom of information show Locke personally contacted Premier Malinauskas, praising South Australia's industrial settings and pushing for the Victorian redundancy model to be adopted here. Let us be clear what this model means. In Victoria, the CFMEU wields enormous control over worker entitlements, employee contributions and taxpayer-backed projects through this scheme. It has become part of the CFMEU's machinery of power, a way to lock in influence and expand reach, and under this government's watch it is being imported, and has been imported, into South Australia.

South Australians are entitled to straight answers. How much money has already gone over the border through this arrangement? What oversight exists to stop redundancy or training funds being siphoned into union-run schemes? Why has the government been silent while an unregulated pipeline of money is being established under its watch? The public is being told that this government will stand up to union influence, but the reality is starkly different. While saying one thing in public, behind closed doors the Premier has entertained a scheme run by a former Labor colleague who left politics in disgrace, now heading up an unregulated billion-dollar fund that directly enriches the Victorian CFMEU.

Incolink are not in South Australia because they want to benefit the state or its workers: they want the cash. The Premier talked tough in June last year about standing up to the CFMEU, but nothing has changed. The union still runs South Australia from Victoria, still pushes Incolink and still siphons millions unchecked. The truth is the Premier has done nothing. He has let this problem fester, and by doing nothing, he is not defending South Australians: he is abandoning them. That is unacceptable.

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