Gangsterism runs unchecked, while our governments largely refuse to act

The full depths of criminality that plagues this union have been revealed in a report by Geoffrey Watson SC  commissioned by the Queensland government.  Among dozens of people named as benefitting from corrupt conduct are convicted and alleged killers employed as CFMEU health and safety officers.  He also identified untrained relatives of CFMEU delegates picked to work shifts, where they made as much as $15,000 a week.  The report also exposed the role outlaw motorcycle gangs played, alleging they were so embedded in the CFMEU, that they were using government building sites as drug distribution centres.

"The CFMEU was actively employing criminals.  During the [John] Setka era, the CFMEU was forcing contractors to employ patched bikies, meth-abusers, violent stand-over men, killers, boxers and cage fighters," the report states.  "The CFMEU succeeded in casting a shadow of fear over the whole building sector."  The report estimated that $15 billion of taxpayer money was wasted on corrupt payments linked to the CFMEU, mostly money generated by the Big Build, Victoria’s $100bn plus infrastructure program.  In some tunnelling projects, unskilled labourers were entitled to a “base salary of over $1,900 per week”, and even more once overtime and shift work were included.  Such roles became “so lucrative” that “corrupt organisers and delegates bought and sold the jobs”, Watson alleged.

Donating more than $3 million to Labor in the year before the 2022 federal election, the CFMEU was the party’s top single donor for Labor’s victory.  Since 2019-20, the union has made donations to Labor totalling $6.2 million.  Labor more recently moved to ban donations from the CFMEU.  Labor’s National Executive also suspended the CFMEU Construction Division’s affiliation to the New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmanian branches of the ALP.

Issues involving ACT Labor’s association with the CFMEU have also come to light.  Enterprise agreements with the CFMEU are believed to have blown out the cost of major public projects like the light rail.  In the ACT, according to its Integrity Commission, Education Directorate officials and ministerial staffers engaged in serious corrupt conduct.  They "dishonestly provided a back door by which the strategic interests of the CFMEU were given priority" in the way a contract was awarded for a primary school upgrade.  In dispute was the $18 million contract for construction work at Campbell Primary School, where union-favoured Lendlease got the job and taxpayers picked up a higher bill.  Labor’s Yvette Berry, the ACT's Deputy Chief Minister resigned in the wake of the report.

Overall, the CFMEU needs complete dismantling to eliminate its institutionalised criminality.  It should never have been allowed to grow by merger, as it did.  The necessary changes will only come about following either a change of government or a perception by the left of the ALP that it is in its political interests to act more drastically.

The tobacco wars in our major cities are the direct result of Albanese Government overreach in tobacco excise.  By making tobacco very expensive, the illegal importation and distribution of cigarettes became both feasible and very profitable.  Currently, the Albanese government refuses to admit that raising tobacco excises to some of the highest levels in the world was a big mistake, so that the tobacco wars are destined to continue.

It should have been possible to identify and close the unlicensed tobacco retailers, who are prominent in suburban locations.  Enforcement, however, is patchy, and anecdotal information suggests that enforcement is more active in South Australia and Queensland than in other states and territories.  The location of illegal tobacco and vape outlets are widely known in the community, yet to date relatively few have been prosecuted or shut down.

A two-tier approach could fundamentally close the illegal tobacco and vape industry within 12 months.  A huge cut to excise would shift business back to licensed retailers, while vigorous enforcement coupled with stronger laws could target individual illegal outlets.  A reduction in the rate of excise could even increase revenue, if the increase in sales by licensed outlets offset lower per unit excise.  Excise rates could subsequently be raised to moderate levels, as the market permits.

SA Police Commissioner Grant Stevens has said consumer-side penalties for the purchase of illicit tobacco "is a question that needs to be considered".   It is illegal in SA to sell or import unauthorised tobacco products, but not to buy them, the commissioner said.

Turning to Middle East organised crime gangs, this element of gangsterism largely reflects the failure of past immigration policies, which should have filtered out undesirable immigrant groups before they entered Australia.  It is very difficult to later deal with such groups after they have been granted residence.  Our laws and appeal processes, coupled with restraints from international treaties Australia has signed, make it very difficult to deport both overstayers and convicted migrant criminals.

Decriminalisation of drugs has encouraged additional drug use and enriched drug dealers.  People can even get prescriptions for medical cannabis over the internet.  Many jurisdictions have reduced penalties for drug possession, while the NSW government recently announced that it would introduce legislation that would see drivers with a medicinal cannabis prescription no longer face a three-month licence suspension or fine for having the THC in their system.  Such a policy seems to place road users at risk.  Surely the issue is the level of THC that impairs driving so that any alleged medicinal purpose is irrelevant.

Ever since the decriminalisation of small amounts of illicit drugs in the ACT, the black market is said to have boomed, and the ACT has become known nationally and internationally for growing demand.  A person caught with drugs in the Territory reportedly only has to tell police where they got the drugs and the police will let them go.  Ground-level policing for drugs is becoming more difficult, and the bottom end of the distribution system has become virtually penalty-free.  The ACT is home to a thriving illicit drug market and bikie hub.  It has no consorting laws, and there is even a "Cocaine Lane" in the heart of Civic.