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Shocking revelations have been made in a recent report into allegations surrounding the Queensland branch of the CFMEU – with the lead investigator alleging that branch leaders deliberately cultivated a “culture of violence”.
Although the allegations that have been brought to light about the Construction, Forestry, and Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU) thus far have been mired in violence, intimidation, and blatant thuggery – Geoffrey Watson SC’s latest investigation into the Queensland branch of the infamous trade union displays a harrowing culture of “deliberate” and “ruthless” violence.
Tasked by CFMEU administrator Mark Irving KC to investigate the branch, Watson’s opening remarks in his Violence in the Queensland CFMEU report underline the depth to which the alleged ruthlessness has disseminated throughout the branch in the pursuit of “political, industrial, and financial power”.
“The CFMEU in Queensland actually intended to inflict physical, sexual, emotional, and economic abuse on others. The CFMEU used threats and coercion deliberately to cause fear. As will be seen, the CFMEU directed threats and intimidation at women and children,” said Watson.
“The purpose of the violence is plain – the violence is used by the CFMEU to support a pursuit of political, industrial, and financial power. This included, if necessary, destroying individuals and businesses. The CFMEU is ruthless – it will crush anyone offering any resistance to it.
“The campaign of violence was very likely planned and directed by the CFMEU leadership – principally by the secretary, Michael Ravbar, and an assistant secretary, Jade Ingham.”
Watson presented five differing categories in terms of who were the repeated victims of the CFMEU branch, with the government, work health and safety officers (WHS), Australian Workers Union (AWU), employers, employees, and women, especially, being habitually targeted through violent measures.
Violence against WHS officers
Some of the more alarming allegations were derived from the actions of CFMEU members towards WHS officers – who were constantly berated either in person or over union-controlled social media channels.
According to the report, on one instance, a builder approached a WHS inspector who was accompanied by two women trainee inspectors at the time.
Recognising the WHS inspector from an inflammatory video posted on the CFMEU Facebook page, the builder walked towards the inspector while operating an angle grinder shouting “you’re that c--t from the video … I want to take you outside and bash the shit out of you”.
Another inspector was the target of vitriolic abuse while attending the funeral of his friend’s wife. At the funeral, three men whom he did not know approached him and said: “You’re that c--t from the video”, with another saying: “You’re a bit of a f--king dog”.
A simple disagreement between a CFMEU organiser and WHS inspector over an emergency evacuation plan led to the organiser screaming: “You’re a f--king dog, you’re a f--king dog, you’re a f--king dog” to the inspector.
Although the organiser admitted to this behaviour, Ravbar – the branch’s secretary – allegedly demanded that the inspector apologise to the organiser and the CFMEU as a whole for the incident.
‘Worst violence’ towards the AWU
Watson noted that tension between the CFMEU and AWU had been longstanding but erupted into incidents of violence around 2022 – with site stand-offs involving chants, blocked entries, physical encounters growing in regularity.
Two AWU organisers attended a lunch meeting at a site in 2023, when they were met with abusive chants from CFMEU representatives.
The organisers concluded and suspended the meeting, but were warned that “you have a crowd waiting for you”. While attempting to leave, 40 CFMEU delegates crowded the main exit, with another 25 crowding the side exit. The organisers were pushed, shoved and surrounded by a group of “angry men”.
One had their backpack ripped off their shoulders, and another was shoved onto the road with oncoming traffic. CFMEU delegates allegedly said to the organisers: “We won’t stop coming for you – no-one can protect you”, and another said: “We know where you live”. Watson stated that the “most chilling” remark was: “We know you have two young sons.”
Numerous incidents with similar interactions were included in Watson’s report, which also included documentation of targeted campaigns against the AWU, which alleged that it took “sweetheart deals with the bosses”.
Watson described these campaigns as “sheer stupidity”, calling out the hypocrisy of the CFMEU, which is “notorious” for “favoured contracts”.
Hostility and violence towards women
“This might just be the single worst aspect of the violence perpetrated by the CFMEU” was Watson’s opening line in the section dedicated to the CFMEU’s alleged contraventions towards women.
“Although the CFMEU boasts of its promotion of equal treatment of women, its actions show otherwise: the material shows the CFMEU had a focus on attacking women, and using tactics which were abusive and degrading,” said Watson.
The report detailed an interaction where Ravbar allegedly directed a female public servant into an office, locked the door from the inside, leaving the woman, Ravbar, and another “big man” in the room, which led to him berating her for 15 minutes in a space that she could not escape.
During the escalation, he said the woman “should be dragged out of here”, and she was told “we’re after you!”
On a union Labour Day celebration, which was attended by a number of families, including children, a female official from the AWU and her 13-year-old child were suddenly confronted by a “heavily built man”.
Wearing a CFMEU T-shirt, the man had “Australia’s Worst Union” painted across his forehead, with the conversation going as follows:
Man: “How do you f--kin’ like this?”
Woman: “Beautiful – you must be really proud.”
Man: “Yeah, I f--kin’ am.”
Woman: “Just leave, just leave.”
Man: ”You’re nothing. You’re a grub. You’re a sell-out. You sell out workers.”
Woman: “Don’t do this in front of my kid.”
Turning and speaking directly to the 13-year-old child, the man allegedly said: “How does it feel to know that your Mum is a f--kin’ grub who sells out workers?”
At another heated CFMEU protest outside Master Builders offices in 2022, attendees called out to young women inside the offices, yelling: “Come out here and I’ll f--k you.”
Watson reiterated that the report is not motivated “by any hostility towards the trade union movement”; instead, it is generated to uphold “the essential role trade unions hold in redressing the imbalance of power between labour and capital, in improving the lives of working Australians, and keeping workers safe”.
However, Watson recommended seven swift changes that must be made to address the “deliberately” cultivated “culture of violence”, including the immediate dismissal of several current officials of the CFMEU.
Kace O'Neill
Kace O'Neill is a Graduate Journalist for HR Leader. Kace studied Media Communications and Maori studies at the University of Otago, he has a passion for sports and storytelling.
