Officer of Gatto-linked company obtained licence despite strip club scandal
An officer of a company linked to Mick Gatto has been granted a license to hire workers following a 12-month ban on managing a licensed property, the Victorian opposition has revealed as it continues to question Premier Jacinta Allan over companies linked to the gangland figure.
Transport Infrastructure Minister Gabrielle Williams also confirmed on Thursday that M Group, a group of labor hire companies affiliated with Gatto, has a presence on the North East Link.
In Parliament, Allan was questioned again about the presence of Group M companies in the state’s security, traffic control and labor hire sector.
Opposition industrial relations spokesman Brad Rowswell asked about the registration of one of these companies, M1 Security Services, in 2025.
he said Public records showed the firm’s licensee was Stephen KyriacouBanned from managing a licensed premises by the liquor regulator for 12 months in 2022.
The ban was imposed after a dancer at Dreams Gentleman Club was found dead and the cause of death was reported to be “multiple drug poisoning”. Kyriacou was the “person of interest” handling the matter.
Rowswell asked why Kyriacou was considered a fit and proper person to receive this license given this history.
Allan said the Victorian Labor Hiring Authority had the necessary powers to investigate the people Rowswell mentioned.
“They have the authority to test the suitability and fit person test provided to the Labor Hiring Authority,” he said.
M1 Security Services’ licensing began in July 2025, ahead of the Victorian parliament’s adoption of new fit and proper person requirements for labor hire businesses.
The approval was made under old requirements rather than guidelines that come into force this year, which include much stricter requirements such as associating with other people who may not meet the criteria.
When contacted, Kyriacou declined to comment Age.
On Thursday morning Williams confirmed Group M companies were working on the North East Link following questions from the opposition a day earlier about whether they were being used on the project.
On Wednesday, the Labor Hire Authority issued a notice to M1 Trades & Labor Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of M Group, stating that it intended to revoke its licence; Williams said this is a meaningful step that could change whether the company is involved in the project.
“Within the scope of the processes of the Labor Leasing Agency, [still work on the project] until that final decision is made… The advice I received [is] “That’s pretty fast,” he said.
Williams said the authority was “getting away” with investigations and that more than 140 cancellations in the construction industry showed that work was bearing fruit.
“The work that resulted in the publication of this announcement yesterday was part of a larger investigation that has been ongoing for months,” he said.
National leader Danny O’Brien asked Allan why six Group M companies had received approval from the Department for Transport and Planning to work on state-run roads.
Allan did not directly address the department’s approval processes, but reiterated that the Labor Leasing Agency “has the powers it needs and the tools it needs to take strong action, and what it has taken is strong action.”
Rowswell said Allan did not explain why these companies were benefiting from taxpayers’ projects.
“He has also refused to tell Victorians how much taxpayers’ money is flowing to companies linked to the underworld, and has continued to reject calls for a royal commission into corruption on major projects,” he said.
M Group provides labor hire and traffic management workers at major sites in Victoria, including several taxpayer-funded projects, and the revocation of the license of one of the company’s subsidiaries could trigger the revocation of the licenses of other entities in the group.
On Wednesday, the Queensland commission of inquiry into the CFMEU held a press conference outside the M1 Traffic Control Queensland offices to highlight concerns over its potential links to Gatto.
In a press release, the commission noted a report by anti-corruption lawyer Geoffrey Watson, SC, last month, which found M Group was a reputed front company for Gatto and that a new Queensland company was similarly linked.
The Watson report, submitted alongside the Queensland inquiry last month, said Gatto owned a number of companies within Group M and there was no doubt he had received favorable treatment from the CFMEU.
He predicted that one company in the group would earn $52 million in 2025.
“Gatto, of course, denies ownership of Group M companies, but this is patently false. Gatto’s attempts to conceal his involvement are crude,” Watson’s report said.
Watson found Gatto exerted a malicious influence and detailed several examples of what he called “criminal conduct.”
Gatto has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and publicly mocked Watson’s findings.
M1 director Tony Paragalli said he disputed “every single one” of Watson’s allegations and the recommendations of the inquiry on Wednesday.
“No one ever [Watson or the inquiry] Call us to get the facts,” Paragalli said.
Paragalli said Gatto had acted as an industrial relations negotiator for several companies in Melbourne and his relationship with M1 “was a direct business arrangement – he charged us $30,000 a year”.
Commissioner Stuart Wood said no findings had been made about the organization or any other organisation, but a request for information had been made which he said would be kept confidential. He said procedural justice would be provided to all those under investigation.
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