DAN JERVIS-BARDY: Voters won’t thank Labor for cleaning up CFMEU mess it allowed to fester

The airing of allegations that the CFMEU had been infiltrated by outlaw bikies and ridden with corruption was shocking and concerning.

But surprising?

It appears only to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke and Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary Sally McManus.

The trio claimed to have been blindsided by explosive reports in the Nine papers and 60 Minutes about the rot inside the construction union’s Victorian and NSW branches, apparently unaware there was anything more than a little nuisance on worksites.

They claim that only once links between union officials and organised crime were exposed in the media that it became necessary to intervene.

The Albanese Government and Labor Party HQ want the public to believe its response to this week’s revelations was strong and decisive.

In fairness, the Government’s steps to force the CFMEU into external administration and the decision of Labor’s national executive to suspend ties and pause donations from the construction division’s east coast branches were not insignificant, given the millions of dollars that have been poured into party coffers.

But voters will reach a very different conclusion.

The public perception will be not of a government and party that acted swiftly to clean up a mess, but one that allowed that mess to fester in the first place through a combination of wilful ignorance, refusal to heed warning signs and desire to protect its political mates and donors.

Labor’s attitude has been there for all to see.

One clip from 2019 has emerged of a smiling Anthony Albanese brushing off then home affairs minister Peter Dutton’s warning that outlaw bikies had their “fangs” in the CFMEU.

“That’s all rhetoric, that’s rhetoric Peter,” Mr Albanese, then opposition leader, said on the Today Show.

Apparently not.

At the union’s urging, Mr Albanese’s newly elected Labor Government abolished the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) — the watchdog responsible for pursuing unlawful union behaviour on worksites.

Labor’s task of divorcing itself from the CFMEU is more complicated than simply suspending its affiliation and not accepting donations from east coach branches.

There are CFMEU-backed Labor MPs across the country — including three in WA — who owe their political careers to the union’s money, influence and campaigning support.

The CFMEU’s Victorian branch might have been ostracised under the leadership of the divisive John Setka, but the union remained part of the fabric of the Labor movement.

It has — at least for now — a seat on Labor’s national executive and has been a loud voice in internal policy debates, particularly on housing and inequality.

The depth and strength of those ties makes the Federal Government’s attempts to plead ignorance about the union’s conduct unbelievable.

Mr Albanese will hope Labor national executive’s decision on Thursday draws a line under the scandal, allowing him to shift focus back to his cost-of-living agenda.

That is unlikely to happen with union leaders gearing up to fight the push to bring in external administrators.

“Albanese has panicked and soiled himself over some unproven allegations in the media,” CFMEU QLD/NT secretary Michael Ravbar said on Wednesday.

“Workers can see that Albo has lost control and the country is being run by buffoon breakfast show hosts and talkback radio shock jocks.”

The Coalition will also continue to push for the CFMEU to be deregistered, ensuring the issue remains in the headlines through Parliament’s winter break.

The scandal is so damaging for Mr Albanese and the Government because it invites the worst and ugliest perceptions of Labor as a party willing to turn a blind eye to protect its union donors.

The actions this week should go some way to dispel those perceptions.

But the Government should not expect credit from voters for cleaning up a mess that it allowed to fester.