Australia urged to copy US laws to stamp out organised crime in union

International experts have told Queensland’s CFMEU inquiry that evidence and allegations levelled against the union appear to show it acting as a Mafia-like organised crime outfit, recommending US-style racketeering laws as a solution.

The powerful public probe is also pursuing a case that overlapping roles held by former Queensland union leaders on related bodies, and the money trail of these back to the union, could be unlawful and expose the organisation to tax liability.

Counsel assisting the inquiry Andrew Meagher KC, leading this week’s hearings probing alleged financial misconduct, said such evidence was relevant to the reason the CFMEU gathered its funds and “goes to the heart of whether or not the CFMEU properly paid tax”.

The Crisafulli LNP government launched the $19.7 million commission of inquiry last year after reporting by this masthead and 60 Minutes into criminality, corruption and misconduct in the union and construction sector nationwide.

This month, the probe was given a nearly 18-month extension to December 2027. This week’s hearing block – the 11th – is the first to dig into the union’s financial structures, activities and alleged wrongdoing, including the improper payment of personal fines.

In evidence over video link and written statements provided to the inquiry after reviewing material it had provided, two expert witnesses in criminal governance and organised crime agreed the CFMEU appeared to have been acting in such a way.

One of the experts, former University of Oxford criminology professor Federico Varese, described governance organised crime as “the unlawful regulation and control of the production and trade of goods and services”.

“On the basis of the material reviewed, it is likely that the union had the opportunity to establish and, in some respects, may have operated as a form of governance-oriented organised crime,” Varese wrote.

“[It did this] by exercising or seeking to exercise control over access to labour and worksites, coercing businesses, influencing regulatory processes, and relying on credible coercion to regulate market participation outside lawful institutions.”

Varese, along with University of Cambridge criminology professor Paolo Campana, agreed that – with modifications – a survey they developed to help police identify gang members in London could help map the union’s role across Queensland.

They pointed to the United States’ Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, allowing figureheads of organised crime to be jailed even with distance from the group’s crimes, as an example of