The workplace safety watchdog repeatedly warned the state government about the CFMEU’s escalating use of spurious danger claims to disrupt major projects, particularly the $10 billion West Gate Tunnel.
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watchdog → warn → projects
WorkSafe Victoria’s chief health and safety officer Sam Jenkin’s claims in his submission to the royal commission into the construction industry cast fresh doubt on the government’s insistence it was unaware of the CFMEU’s conduct prior to this masthead’s Building Bad investigation in mid-2024.
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it → cast → mid-2024
Jenkin described regular high-level meetings with then-minister Ingrid Stitt and her staff as one of the ways WorkSafe communicated the CFMEU’s disruption of major projects using unfounded safety claims – particularly on the West Gate Tunnel, which was beset by delays and cost blowouts.
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which → describe → delays
“These issues were recorded within WorkSafe in weekly email updates and highlighted in written and oral briefings to the minister’s office, including by the CEO personally,” he said.
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he → record → CEO
Jenkin’s evidence follows the release of multiple briefing notes from senior bureaucrats seeking to warn then-minister in charge of the major projects, Jacinta Allan, of costly and significant problems caused by the CFMEU.
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evidence → follow → CFMEU
Asked by the commission to reflect on events in 2021 and 2022, Jenkin said WorkSafe had regularly observed CFMEU officials entering projects over matters that “appeared not to relate to genuine safety concerns” as part of the industrial battle it was fighting with the Australian Workers Union.
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it → ask → Union
“So far as ‘patterns’ are concerned, although it is highly unlikely that WorkSafe could have proved such matters in a court, CFMEU aligned [officials] may have been raising safety concerns to advance industrial and other interests, including with employers and during a demarcation dispute with a rival union, the Australian Workers’ Union,” he said.
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he → concern → union
“As a general rule … they arose earlier, more consistently and were most pronounced at the West Gate Tunnel Project.”
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they → arise → Project
On several occasions, he said, WorkSafe suggested the officials should be removed by Victoria Police as they were trespassing.
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they → say → Police
Jenkin said another noted pattern was that CFMEU issues “arose with a greater degree of frequency, or intensity, when time-critical works were due to occur” such as road closures or public transport shutdowns.
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works → say → closures
Jenkin said WorkSafe’s chairman and chief executive were among those who briefed Stitt.
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who → say → Stitt
“The minister was also briefed on an ongoing basis, including in writing by weekly reports to the minister’s office, on an ad hoc basis when specific incidents occurred, and on a number of occasions, in person by the CEO,” he said.
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he → brief → CEO
Jenkin said although the Gap Road level crossing removal was of less concern to WorkSafe than the West Gate Tunnel, the agency was asked to brief Stitt on June 6, 2022, at the height of the Gap Road dispute that has occupied the opening week of witness examinations at the royal commission.
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that → say → commission
He said WorkSafe had not been able to identify Stitt’s response to the briefing, which he said was not unusual.
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he → say → briefing
“The 6 June meeting followed earlier meetings in April and May of 2022 at which WorkSafe was requested to advise on similar issues.
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WorkSafe → follow → issues
Notes prepared at the time include a reference to the Gap Road Site, although the majority of communication concerned the West Gate Tunnel Project, where union issues were more pronounced from WorkSafe’s perspective,” he said.
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he → prepare → perspective
“WorkSafe was regularly requested to advise on issues relating to CFMEU activity on Major [Major Transport Infrastructure Authority] Projects with the Minister for Workplace Safety between June and August 2022, including as part of written weekly reports and at least one meeting on 6 June 2022.”
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WorkSafe → request → June
The WorkSafe chief executive held monthly meetings throughout 2022 with Stitt, which were usually also attended by her chief of staff and a policy adviser.
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which → hold → staff
Jenkin said despite WorkSafe inspectors increasingly being called to these projects, they did not have the power to act as an umpire in industrial disputes and had little ability to remove union officials acting improperly.
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they → say → officials
Additionally, there was also “marked hostility” towards WorkSafe from the CFMEU during the period, when the union published highly critical social media posts naming WorkSafe staff, which had resulted in death threats.
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which → be → threats
Since last year, he said, inspectors heading to known trouble sites operated on a “two-up” basis to help deal with the prospect of violence.
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inspectors → say → violence
- The boast: CFMEU boss claimed to have ‘direct line to Jacinta Allan’s office’
- Live blog:
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boss → claim → office
The fast-talking and sure-footed Chris Young, KC, is not copping a failure to comply
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Young → talk → failure
Background reading: Why the inquiry is looking into the Gap Road level crossing
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inquiry → look → crossing
The leaked memo: The document that revealed CFMEU’s level crossing takeover
More:
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that → leak → takeover
The Aporia
