Watch live: Royal commission hearings
Below is a delayed livestream of the royal commission proceedings, if you would like to make a submission to the inquiry click here.
Commission hears of disruptions to Metro Tunnel works
The Big Build royal commission has just heard the CFMEU also caused disruptions to time-critical works on the Metro Tunnel back in 2020.
Craig Nuttall, the managing director of CPB Contractors, said project managers struggled to get piling and crane work done during an occupation at the South Yarra portal of the rail tunnel in January 2020 as the union was issuing notices.
Counsel assisting Connor O’Bryan asked Nuttall how the disruption was eventually resolved, and the CPB boss pointed to the consortium’s Damian Brizzi’s communications with the state government.
“Damien, I would say, put those issues back into government – that the occupation was potentially at risk from a time point of view – and I’d say we got support from the project owner,” Nuttall said.
CFMEU, AWU stoush made industry more combative
The boss of a major construction contractor says industrial relations in Victoria have become “more combative and aggressive” over the last decade as unions battled for territory on mammoth infrastructure projects.
Craig Nuttall, the managing director of CPB Contractors, is now testifying before the Big Build royal commission and was asked how the IR landscape had changed.
“It’s probably got a little bit more combative and aggressive over the last decade,” he said.
Counsel assisting Conor O’Bryan asked: “In what ways has it become more combative and aggressive?”
Nuttall said: “Just the influence I would say … that the unions have on territory. Demarcation has got a little blurry … You’ve got one union trying to step into another union’s patch of work.”
The commission has heard that the Australian Workers’ Union traditionally held sway on civil projects in Victoria, but the CFMEU muscled in on Big Build sites in recent years.
January was ‘cooked’: John Holland manager
Another senior John Holland construction manager is the next witness to appear before the Big Build royal commission as the inquiry examines how the CFMEU disrupted the Gap Road level-crossing removal.
Wayne Donelly was the general manager of strategy and development for the rail and transport group at John Holland when CFMEU officials stopped work on the company’s project on the Sunbury line in June 2022.
A reminder: union officials claimed there were safety concerns on the site, but the commission heard earlier this week that these issues disappeared when major contractors agreed to install CFMEU-approved safety officials and subcontractors. It also heard that when WorkSafe visited the site it found no significant issues. The inquiry is focusing on this project as a case study of how the union muscled in on Victoria’s Big Build.
Counsel assisting Amber Harris is taking Donelly through his notes from the time now.
‘Productive relationship’ meant conceding to CFMEU
The Big Build royal commission has just resumed after a lunch break.
Counsel assisting Chris Young, KC, is still quizzing John Holland’s general manager for industrial relations, Trent Smith, about his company’s relationship with the CFMEU.
The inquiry is now examining briefing notes from within John Holland that mentioned the “the level of influence of the CFMEU have within the Victoria Labor party” meant dealing with the union’s civil arm was crucial to the company’s success in the state.
The document sent to a John Holland committee on July 26, 2026, mentioned the company had developed “an ongoing long-term productive relationship” with the CFMEU.
Young asked Smith: “Is it fair to say that’s effectively just conceding to the demands that [were] made by the CFMEU?”
Smith replied: “In the context we were in then, yes. There was a lot of concessions required.”
CFMEU ‘more militant’ in Victoria
Another industrial relations manager at major contractor John Holland has told the Big Build royal commission the company believed it needed to show an ability to work with the CFMEU in Victoria more so than any other jurisdiction thanks to the union’s close relationship with the state Labor government.
Trent Smith, the second witness to appear today, said the CFMEU was “more militant” in Victoria and Queensland, but the company felt it needed to maintain a good relationship as the union pushed into the civil construction sector.
Commissioner Chris Kourkais asked: “Was it a view linked to a particular government that is party politically linked?”
Smith replied: “It was more so in Victoria that we thought we needed to demonstrate an ability to work with the CFMEU, absolutely. But it did play out in Queensland as well.”
The commission has now adjourned for lunch and will return just after 2pm.
Beirne says abolishing ABCC lessened deterrent
John Holland’s industrial relations manager Stephen Beirne has finished up his testimony to the Big Build royal commission.
Counsel assisting Tim Jeffrie concluded his questioning by asking Beirne about the impact of the federal Labor government’s abolition of the controversial Australian Building and Construction Commission in February 2023.
Beirne responded: “I think [there’s] less of a deterrent for permit holders and … organisations subject to the Fair Work Act for breaching provisions of the Act.”
The lawyer for former CFMEU heavyweight Joe Myles also briefly cross-examined Beirne about a pivotal meeting at the union’s headquarters.
John Holland IR manager recalls key meeting
John Holland’s industrial relations manager has recounted a meeting with key CFMEU figure Joe Myles about the troubled Gap Road level-crossing removal after the union disrupted the project.
The events of the June 7, 2022 meeting have been the subject of focus for the commission over the week.
Stephen Beirne just told the Big Build royal commission it was a “pretty tense meeting” when he travelled with fellow construction managers to the CFMEU’s headquarters on Elizabeth Street.
“There wasn’t a lot of small talk or niceties exchanged,” Beirne said.
John Holland witness noted mounting incidents at Gap Road
Following the commission’s spray at the government, the inquiry heard from its first witness for the day, Stephen Beirne, an industrial relations adviser from John Holland.
He described how the CFMEU was attempting to expand its coverage areas on projects at the expense of the Australian Workers Union.
By the time he joined the alliance building rail projects in Melbourne’s north-west, he said CFMEU had agreements with the “vast majority” of subcontractors.
He started to become “more involved” in Gap Road in about May of 2022.
Beirne said he was asked in early June of that year to prepare a discussion paper in response to a ramping-up of industrial incidents at Gap Road.
In that paper, he noted that a number of other large contractors has signed workplace deals with the CFMEU.
Commissioner criticises government for disrupting inquiry’s work
Commissioner Chris Kourakis has demanded better co-operation from agencies involved in the Big Build royal commission after the Victorian Infrastructure Delivery Authority (VIDA) was criticised this morning for its inadequate production of documents, which prompted an apology from the agency’s lawyer.
Counsel assisting Chris Young, KC, started today’s hearing by saying delays from state government entities had “already interrupted the intended timetable of this hearing session”.
He noted that imprisonment was a sanction available for those who failed to comply with the commission’s compulsory powers, and “more robust measures” could be taken if state agencies did not adhere to their obligations.
“Can I say that it is profoundly disappointing in light of everything that’s been said by the premier of this state about the importance of this commission, about the importance of its work, and about the co-operation it will receive from the state, that state entities and senior current and former state officers and employees only engage with this commission when compelled to do so, and seem otherwise content to do nothing unless compelled,” Young said.
Premier ducks royal commission questions
Premier Ben Carroll has again refused to answer questions about the royal commission after revelations the CFMEU had a direct line to a minster’s office, and claims the government had only engaged with the commission when it had been compelled to.
“I’m not going to comment on the royal commission,” Carroll said.
“What I will say, [is that] I set this royal commission up … so those questions will be answered fully as they should be.”
As we’ve reported earlier here, counsel assisting Chris Young, KC, said that it was “profoundly disappointing, in light of everything that’s been said by the premier of this state, that state entities only engage with this commission when compelled and seem otherwise content to do nothing”.
In response Carroll said: “I’m not going to run a commentary on it, except to say there are broad powers.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
