source : the age
Corruption was so rife in the labour hire industry that there were no attempts to cover it up, the inquiry hears.
Watson says labour hire companies would pay a bribe to CFMEU officials, and those officials would then insist they were used on a particular site.
“There was no secret about it… these fellas were just stating it in front of people,” he tells the hearing.
They’re now talking about “ghost shifts”, where labour hire companies were reportedly paid for staff who never had anything to do with the project.
Watson estimates millions of dollars were spent on “ghost shifts” on one metropolitan Melbourne project.
“Any system can be corrupted, it just depends on whether you’ve got the people to do it.”
The inquiry is back under way after its break for lunch.
Geoffrey Watson is now taking questions on labour hire, which he calls the most corrupt aspect of the entire building sector.
“The acquisition and maintenance of [enterprise bargaining agreements]… is not competitive. That’s one corrupt part of it,” he says.
“[Labour hire in] Victoria was a billion-dollar industry in its own right.”
Watson blocks out the last over and that’s lunch.
There are no huge twists as that session wraps up, but plenty of new information has emerged today.
The inquiry has heard about bikie and underworld links to the union, how “fake roles” – unwanted or unnecessary delegates and health and safety representatives – were forced onto contractors, the alleged methods Mick Gatto used to extort contractors, and how the allegedly criminal activity of several union figures straddles both Victoria and Queensland.
Testimony will return at 2pm from the Brisbane Magistrates’ Court.
John Setka, the former boss of the CFMEU’s Victoria branch, and other senior leaders “couldn’t care less” about the safety of union members, Watson says.
He tells the inquiry CFMEU leaders with criminal links didn’t share the values of the wider Australian union movement, but were exclusively concerned with self-advancement.
“I’m so sick and tired of all these statements made… by Setka and by others that ‘what we’re most concerned about is bringing those men home safe in the evening’,” Watson says.
“I truly believe Setka couldn’t care less about that.
“‘We’ve got to pick the [health and safety representatives] because we’ve got to keep them safe’. All right, so you’re going to put a killer on?”
The inquiry hears one health and safety representative was arrested on murder charges shortly after being appointed, and another threatened to kill someone with an axe.
“It’s stupid. It’s so wrong, so hypocritical,” Watson says.
“They’ve lost their values, and that hurts me personally… I believe in this. I actually think unions have done a great thing in this country.
“Think where Setka and his mob have taken it.”
Counsel assisting the inquiry Mark Costello, KC, directs questioning to the element of Watson’s report dealing with what he described as “systemic corruption”.
Particularly, Watson talks about “fake roles” – unwanted or unnecessary delegates and health and safety representatives – forced on contractors.
Watson says he has seen records detailing the annual salaries of some in such roles of $200,000 and even more than $300,000.
He says they were often given cars and not required to do physical work on site – or even attend the site. If they did, they had access to an air-conditioned office with access to Foxtel and betting channels.
These were sometimes handed to close associates, friends and family members of more senior CFMEU figures, including the brother-in-law of ousted Victorian leader John Setka.
“I mean full credit to the CFMEU, they negotiated great conditions for their workers,” Watson says.
Commissioner Stuart Wood asks Watson questions directly about the matter of how to stop people with unsuitable backgrounds gaining so much power in the sector.
Wood says there is a difference between coming from a jail term and going to work on a site, and immediately being appointed as a health and safety representative or as a delegate – roles “for which they are probably very likely to be unsuitable”.
“That’s really the policy question,” Wood says.
Watson replies: “I couldn’t agree more… I say that’s an abuse of the system.”
Watson relates an anecdote, redacted in his report, about a person “forced” onto an employer as a health and safety representative earning $6500 a week.
On one occasion, Watson says the person was on site with a tomahawk trying to find a CFMEU organiser he hated, “saying he was going to kill him”.
Watson notes he had been critical of employers and regulators, and even government, about not taking action, but this was because employees “were too scared to go forward to the police”.
“Because, well, you might have tomahawk man visit you that night.”
Watson runs through a long list of alleged bikies and career criminals with links to the CFMEU, claiming Queenslanders were overrepresented in corrupt and violent behaviour across other states.
His testimony centres around Joel Leavitt, who was arrested by Victoria Police overnight in connection to an alleged extortion plot against a contractor.
Watson says the bikie was one of many who moved south from the Sunshine State for alleged sub-legitimate opportunities.
“I don’t want to tread on too many toes, but Queenslanders caused a lot of trouble down there.”
Watson says he has evidence at least three Queenslanders who were investigated have returned to their home state.
Costello takes Watson through the element of his report dealing with what he had described as “the struggle for control of Hurstbridge”.
The $530 million stage-two Hurstbridge Line upgrade in Victoria has been “chock-a-block” with outlaw motorcycle gangs, Watson says.
As such, it was not just used as an example of a public infrastructure project over time and budget, but showed the entanglement of the CFMEU, gangs and organised crime.
“It was headed by a bikie, Joel Leavitt,” Watson says, noting involvement from other gangs.
“These people were not just patched members, they were leaders – either chapter presidents or, in some cases, national presidents.”
Watson also expands on his comments in the report about building sites such as Hurstbridge being used by bikie gangs as drug-distribution points.
“If the drugs weren’t being delivered from there, deals are being organised from these sites,” he says.
Watson says he was “worried about some retributions” after his testimony before the commission yesterday.
But the arrest of Joel Leavitt overnight made him significantly more comfortable, the barrister tells the inquiry.
“My own judgment is he is an extremely dangerous character,” he says.
“I don’t usually suffer from this, but I was a little bit worried about some retributions from yesterday.
“And I felt a lot easier when I [saw he was] behind bars.”
Leavitt was arrested by Taskforce Hawk in relation to the alleged extortion of a building company, which was set up to combat union corruption.
“I’ve had a lot of harsh things to say about Leavitt, and all I can say is I’m not backing down from any of them,” Watson adds.
Watson returns to the stand, where he is asked about Joel Leavitt, whom he describes in his report as a patched Rebels outlaw motorcycle gang member and a “brutal criminal with a bad criminal record”.
Leavitt originally came from Queensland.
He followed others – including Joe Myles and Mick Myles – to Melbourne after former Queensland CFMEU boss, Michael Ravbar, pushed union figures out to exert greater control on its merger with the former Builders’ Labourers’ Federation.
“This is what I believe to be the case,” Watson says, noting the information had proven difficult to track down.
Watson says he had heard about Leavitt being shot in a Rebels clubhouse and being driven to hospital in a Victorian government car assigned to the gang member in his role as a health and safety representative.
