Overview
- A newly released private report from investigator Geoffrey Watson recommends the immediate termination of 11 CFMEU coordinators, organisers and delegates, citing safety risks, and urges membership removals for additional figures including former leaders Michael Ravbar and Jade Ingham.
- Watson described incidents on Brisbane infrastructure sites, including CFMEU members surrounding cars at the Centenary Bridge upgrade and abusing AWU organisers at Cross River Rail locations, and he flagged an informal “Youth Crew” that witnesses depicted as a hit squad.
- The inquiry was shown footage of aggressive conduct at a Cross River Rail picket, which Watson said could have endangered lives, as he argued the union sought to concentrate power by pushing the AWU off civil construction work.
- An attempt by lawyers for Ravbar and others to delay proceedings to access Watson’s source material was rejected, with the commissioner ruling the hearings should continue while ensuring procedural fairness.
- Watson testified that former Victorian boss John Setka sent him an abusive text and noted Setka’s recent charges over alleged threats to administrator Mark Irving, while also urging scrutiny of an alleged police-CFMEU memorandum that the police union president publicly rejected.