Fair Work Commission investigates as disgraced CFMEU boss resurfaces in Victorian firefighting union
Updated ,first published
The workplace watchdog has launched an investigation into allegations that former Queensland CFMEU boss Michael Ravbar has reemerged at Victoria’s firefighters union.
The imprint confirmed that the Fair Work Commission was investigating why Ravbar, who was sacked as state secretary of Queensland’s CFMEU branch when the union was brought into administration, had recently become involved with the United Firemen’s Union and its leader Peter Marshall.
Ravbar’s alleged exile from Queensland to the Victorian union, which wields significant and controversial power in the state’s Labor Party, poses another major problem for Premier Jacinta Allan and her efforts to cauterize the ongoing union and construction industry scandal.
Ravbar was accused at the CFMEU commission of inquiry in Queensland of leading a violent and misogynistic culture in his quest for power in the sunshine state.
A report submitted to the inquiry by Geoffrey Watson, SC, to the Queensland CFMEU alleged Ravbar and other senior leaders oversaw a culture of abuse and harassment that was “enthusiastically practiced” by some union organisers, delegates and rank-and-file members. The report stated that Ravbar belittled politicians in his public speeches and repeatedly harassed a minister in a way that was described as “brutal”.
Ravbar failed to challenge the Albanian government’s move to put the CFMEU into administration in the Supreme Court.
As president of the firefighters’ union, Marshall spent months suppressing a still-secret report by Victoria’s corruption watchdog into the union’s decade-old dealings with the Labor government.
The commission investigation will investigate Ravbar’s dealings with the UFU’s executive committee and whether they violated federal laws that prohibit a person expelled from the CFMEU from operating in another union without the regulator’s approval.
Ravbar, who has led the Queensland CFMEU for nearly 20 years, is a close ally of former Victorian CFMEU boss John Setka, who is close to Marshall. Neither Marshall nor Ravbar responded to requests for comment.
The move comes after messages between Allan government minister Luba Grigorovitch and disgraced Victorian CFMEU boss Setka were leaked to this imprint, revealing her efforts to create a “formidable force” in state politics through an alliance with both Setka and Marshall.
Grigorovitch’s messages in 2018 related to one of the most contentious disputes between the union and the state government, a fight between Marshall and the then emergency services minister Jane Garrett, who died of cancer in 2022.
The struggle was raging in 2018, when Grigorovitch, Setka and Garrett formed the Industrial Left, a breakaway political group.
At the time, Garrett was also at war with Marshall over concerns that Marshall had improperly pressured the then Andrews Labor government to give his union a nice pay deal, which later attracted scrutiny from corruption watchdog IBAC.
Leaked messages show Grigorovitch advising Setka in 2018 on how to position himself and his group to achieve maximum political power, including ending the feud between Garrett and Marshall.
“I’m sure Jane will want to make a truce and leave all this behind, so if you can catch her [Marshall] If we were on the same page we could all meet and work together, that would be an incredible power!” Grigorovitch says this in a leaked text message from mid-2018. “I hope you can make it happen.”
Grigorovitch declined to comment Wednesday.
This imprint had previously reported that Grigorovitch tried to help Setka when she faced allegations of domestic violence, including contacting a public relations professional recommended by Grigorovitch.
“I think this morning went really well and I’m so glad we have a strategic plan going forward!” Grigorovitch sent Setka a message in mid-2019 about his efforts to minimize the effects of the domestic violence crime for which he was eventually convicted in court. “We will get through this John xx”
In 2022, Setka’s CFMEU supported Grigorovitch entering the state parliament as a Labor MP loyal to the construction union. Grigorovitch thanked Setka in his first speech.
Allan appointed Grigorovitch to the cabinet in April this year. At the time, Grigorovitch said he had “no regrets” about his past friendship with Setka, despite the opposition calling his promotion “terrible”.
On Wednesday, Allan denied that his office encouraged a rail consortium to strike a deal with the CFMEU that would allow it to put the union’s preferred labor hire company on the Big Build site, albeit at a higher cost to taxpayers.
In his statement, Allan said that the allegations detailed in this article were “baseless” and that anyone with evidence should report them to the authorities.
Three sources with intimate knowledge of the 2022 level crossing removal project have separately claimed ministerial pressure was applied from Allan’s office during the dispute between the CFMEU and the builders’ alliance, which includes CPB and John Holland.
In June 2022, CFMEU delegates went on strike over road and rail closures for the level crossing project at Gap Road in Sunbury. They demanded that firms affiliated with the rival Australian Trades Union be removed and replaced by their own subsidiaries.
Gap Road sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said representatives of the two first-tier firms had been informed by Rail Projects Victoria officials that Allan, then transport infrastructure minister, wanted to know whether they would strike a deal with the CFMEU.
BK Labor, a firm that police recently alleged was corrupt and was charged with financial crimes last year, was appointed to the project.
On Monday, Allan denied allegations about his interference, and on Wednesday he again said there was no evidence to support those claims.
“These allegations are unfounded,” he said. “If anyone has any evidence regarding these allegations they should present them to the authorities so they can be investigated. By removing the level crossing on Gap Road we have eliminated Sunbury’s worst bottleneck. I am proud of this project and the results it has delivered.”
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Nick McKenzie is an Age investigative journalist who has been named the Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year three times. The winner of 20 Walkley Awards, including the Gold Walkley, he explores politics, business, foreign affairs and criminal justice.Connect via email.
