Libby Mettam: Welcome mat out for bikies

Bikies and thugs did not infiltrate the WA branch of the CFMEU, they waltzed in through a door left wide open by the Labor Government in 2021.

There’s no need to sneak in somewhere when you’re welcomed in with open arms.

In 2021, the Government introduced to Parliament and passed the Criminal Law (Unlawful Consorting and Prohibited Insignia) Act 2021.

The stated intention of the law was to disrupt the activities of bikies and crime gangs, to limit their membership and to protect West Australians from their unlawful activities.

Seemingly noble intentions from a Government facing increasing rates of violent crime across the State. Recent WA Police statistics show violent crime is up 22 per cent.

However, the Labor Government included an exemption in the act allowing bikies and gangs to consort and do “union business”.

The WA Liberals strenuously opposed the inclusion of the exemption arguing it would simply embolden bikies and gangs in unions and on union sites conducting their business.

No doubt the unions expected a bump in membership applications from bikies when the act passed.

Not really anything new for the CFMEU and its predecessor — the Builders Labourers Federation — which both have historical associations with convicted criminals and gang members.

The WA CFMEU continues to employ Edmond “Monty” Margjini, a former cage fighter and member of the Sword Boys gang, who has been named by police as a standover man for bikies.

While mock outrage has been frothing from the mouths of Labor politicians in other States over the exposure of criminal infiltration of the CFMEU, Premier Roger Cook and his deputy Rita Saffioti have kept their comments to a barely audible mumble.

Maybe they don’t want to admit they handed the WA CFMEU the legal imprimatur to conduct their consorting business within the union in WA.

It’s difficult to attack the union for allowing thugs and bikies to consort within their ranks when you were the one who let them do exactly that.

While only 12 per cent of eligible employees in WA are union members, the 88 per cent of non-members, or “scabs” and “free riders” as unions call them, shouldn’t think the unions — and the gang members or bikies who consort within them — are not part of their world.

Many workers may be surprised to find out that most enterprise bargaining agreements negotiated by unions include a clause allowing unions access to the contact details of “free riders”.

When the CFMEU negotiates a new pay deal (as it recently did for workers on a Metronet site, with the help of some strong-arming of contractors by the Cook Government), it wants the opportunity to extract some payback for their negotiating skills — in the form of union fees — from the “free riders”.

Incidentally, the CFMEU-Cook Government negotiated an increase for workers on the Metronet site, which lifts the annual pay of a construction worker from $151,936 to $194,400.

What is not included in those EBAs — that give unions access to workers’ contact details — is any details of how the unions will secure those private details, or whether one union can share those personal details with other unions.

Even if — in Roger Cook’s thinking — the WA CFMEU is doing nothing illegal by allowing gang members and bikies to conduct business on union sites, he surely owes all non-union members an assurance their personal details are not in the hands of convicted criminals and gang members.

He also owes an assurance that none of the $25,000 donated to WA Labor last month by the CFMEU was acquired by illegal or immoral activities.

I asked the Premier in a letter to guarantee that he was not taking dirty money from the CFMEU and that he was not allowing the CFMEU to threaten contractors, workers or anyone else on State Government building sites.

He hasn’t.

We know why he hasn’t guaranteed there was no threatening behaviour from the CFMEU on building sites. The CFMEU uses people like Nathan “Fish” Fisher and Edmond “Monty” Margjini as organisers.

Fisher has a conviction for armed robbery and Margjini is facing criminal charges for an alleged home invasion.

Fisher isn’t allowed on sites covered by Commonwealth legislation, while Margjini is looking at losing his access. Both frequent State government sites.

He won’t guarantee there is no threatening behaviour from the CFMEU, because he knows it’s there.

It is exactly the same reason he won’t guarantee there are no links to dirty money.

Roger Cook owes a promise to West Australians that he isn’t bankrolled by dirty money, and that our hard-earned tax dollars aren’t being funnelled back to organised crime.

Whether West Australians get what they are owed from Premier Cook will depend on whether the Premier feels his debt of transparency to West Australians outweighs the debt he owes the CFMEU.

It was the CFMEU and other right faction unions that propelled Roger Cook into the leadership while left faction unions — his traditional support base — chose Amber-Jade Sanderson over him.

Both are significant debts.

Libby Mettam is the leader of the Liberal Party.