Minister unsure why one of NSW’s largest unions received $111,000 donation from icare

The state’s public insurer icare donated $111,124 to the Electrical Trades Union, one of the largest financial backers of the NSW Labor Party and a key supporter of the disgraced CFMEU.

Industrial Relations Minister Sophie Cotsis could not explain the reason for the payment, disclosed to the Australian Electoral Commission in 2024-25, when asked in a budget estimates hearing on Tuesday. Cotsis suggested the payment was for training.

The training arm of the ETU is headed by ousted former CFMEU president Rita Mallia, who was sacked from her role when an administrator was appointed to the troubled construction union.

Mallia – a close ally of corrupt former CFMEU secretary Darren Greenfield – was appointed chief executive of the ETU’s Electrogroup after she was sacked from the CFMEU in 2024. In February last year, anti-corruption expert Geoffrey Watson, SC, in a report ordered by the union’s administrator, recommended civil charges be brought against Mallia, the CFMEU’s former NSW branch president.

Cotsis said she would seek an answer on the nature of the donation but stressed that workers in dangerous professions had the right to training.

“I’ll get you the information, but icare and other agencies in general provide … support or training opportunities, education, professional development,” Cotsis said.

“These types of workers – whether it’s electricians, tunnellers, labourers, people who work in high-risk areas in our economy – they deserve to get an education, they deserve training.”

The Liberal Party’s Scott Farlow asked Cotsis if the payment was a “taxpayer-funded golden parachute” for a union boss pushed out of the CFMEU.

Disclosures also show icare donated $52,564 to CFMEU in 2024-25.

“This is alarming, and we need to get to the bottom of the nature of these payments,” Wallace said.

“The Minns government needs to stand up to the ETU which has been delaying and adding costs to infrastructure projects across the state.”

Cotsis also said she had held one meeting with former ETU president Glen Potter, a long-term senior official with the union who is facing charges including firearm offences and dealing with proceeds of crime.

NSW Police allegedly found 167 guns at Potter’s Illawarra house and more than $120,000 in cash.

When asked about the charges at a budget estimates hearing last Thursday, Premier Chris Minns denied knowing Potter and agreed he would not accept future donations from the official.

Refusing donations from the ETU entirely was unreasonable, Minns said.

“If you’re within an organisation and someone’s alleged to have acted inappropriately, it doesn’t mean that every member of the organisation has acted inappropriately,” he said.

In a statement, the ETU said Potter would be taking leave effective immediately.

“During this period, the president will not be involved in any financial, operational or governance matters of the union, nor represent the ETU in any official capacity,” the statement said.

The ETU wants a multi-employer agreement covering the NSW electrical contracting industry, prompting fears construction costs would be pushed up and hand the union unprecedented bargaining power.

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