Mon Mar 17

Coalition promises Australian version of United States’ RICO act to target CFMEU

Written by: Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has announced a Coalition government would introduce legislation, based on an American law used to pursue the Mafia, to enable police to target the “kingpins” of criminal organisations such as outlaw motorcycle gangs.

This follows new allegations ^[1] by Nine newspapers and 60 Minutes about the rogue union the CFMEU. The allegations include “the employment of ‘baseball-twirling violent people’ on the [Victorian government’s] Big Build, where women have been bashed and then black-banned after they complained”.

The Nine investigation further alleged that “gangland and bikie-linked figures are receiving large payments from companies on publicly funded projects looking to gain favour with union insiders, leaving state and federal taxpayers in effect underwriting payments to the underworld.”

The Coalition said Monday the proposed new offences would “be based on the highly effective Mafia takedown laws in the US”. Dutton and shadow ministers Michaelia Cash and James Paterson said in a statement:

By targeting groups that engage in a pattern of criminal behaviour, these offences will put police in the position where they can target the criminal organisation and its leadership.

This means the bosses and kingpins of groups such as outlaw motorcycle gangs can be jailed even if they distance themselves from the crimes their organisations commit.

Dutton described the CFMEU as “a modern-day mafia operation”. He added:

The culture of criminality and corruption is so entrenched, and it will never change – especially under the weak and incompetent Albanese Labor government.

Dutton claimed the CFMEU affair was the “biggest corruption scandal in our country’s history”.

The opposition said it would also set up an Australian Federal Police-led taskforce that would bring together federal law enforcement agencies and state and territory police forces to target criminal behaviour.

After the latest revelation surfaced in Nine media at the weekend, Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt said on social media ^[2] he would refer the allegations to the police.

On Monday, Watt condemned ^[3] Dutton’s proposal for a new law.

We don’t need to import an American racketeering law - we already have our own laws to go after ‘kingpins’, such as section 390.6 of the Criminal Code, which already deals with directing criminal organisation.

He also condemned the opposition’s long-standing policy to deregister the union, saying this would mean there was no regulation.

Peter Dutton’s reckless desire for a headline puts at risk the investigations and crime-fighting that the Coalition never bothered to commence in their decade in office.

Victoria police is undertaking an investigation into the fresh allegations.

The US Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations (RICO) Act, dating from 1970, enables prosecutors to take down whole mob-related organisations rather than having only the power to deal with figures individually. It is intended to deal with mob bosses who could not be directly connected to the crimes.

Its use, however, has extended well beyond mob prosecutions to a range of targets, from street gangs to politicians.

US President Donald Trump was charged under Georgia’s RICO act ^[4] for “knowingly and willfully joining a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the [2020] election”.

The construction and general division of the CFMEU has been in administration since last August.

The union’s national secretary, Zach Smith, said on Facebook ^[5]: “We cannot let our union or our industry be a safe haven for criminality of corruption”.

He also said that “violence against women is completely unacceptable to our union”.