Premier asks Labor to return CFMEU donation

Labor’s state executive will meet this afternoon to discuss returning a controversial $125,000 election donation from the Victorian branch of the construction union, following a request by Premier Peter Malinauskas amid a domestic violence controversy and vandalism claims.

The donation helped bolster Labor’s campaign ahead of the March 2022 state election and has been the subject of scrutiny in recent weeks after the John Setka-led Victorian branch of the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) took control of the South Australian branch.

The Opposition and Setka’s estranged wife Emma Walters – whom the polarizing construction union boss was convicted of harassing in 2019 – called on Malinauskas to hand the $125,000 donation to a domestic violence charity.

Malinauskas had previously rejected their appeals, but yesterday afternoon he announced that he had requested that Labor’s state executive pay back or donate the CFMEU’s gift.

The state executive will hold a virtual snap meeting at 1pm today to consider Malinauskas’ request.

The Premier, who is a member of the state executive, is yet to confirm if he will attend today’s meeting, but party rules dictate that he is unable to send a proxy if he is absent.

He said this morning that the backflip was triggered by a conversation he had with Master Builders SA CEO Will Frogley following reports the association’s cars were vandalized and had CFMEU-branded stickers placed on them on Friday.

“Will explained to me the events that had occurred reportedly on Friday afternoon in terms of CFMEU stickers being put on Master Builders cars and also the damage to a car as well,” Malinauskas told ABC Radio Adelaide.

“Over the last couple of weeks, I said if there is any evidence that would suggest that inappropriate behavior on behalf of the CFMEU coming across the border from Victoria – if there are examples of that or evidence of that occurring here in South Australia – then I’ll act.

“That’s exactly what I did yesterday afternoon upon hearing that news.”

Malinauskas said the party would not “jump the gun unfairly”, but he was convinced that the alleged car vandalism was sufficient grounds on which Labor’s state executive would agree to hand back the CFMEU’s donation.

“I’ve certainly made my expectations clear and I want to send a very clear message about what will and won’t be tolerated in the context of industrial action in South Australia under my leadership,” he said.

Opposition spokesperson Michelle Lensink described Malinauskas’ decision as a “huge win for domestic violence survivors and victims”, given Setka’s criminal history.

But she urged Malinauskas to apologize for describing her call to donate the $125,000 to a domestic violence charity as “cute”.

“I raised legitimate concerns about Labor’s links to the CFMEU and the $125,000 donation and was totally dismissed because Peter Malinauskas thought it was all a ‘little cute’,” she said.

“Peter Malinauskas had to be dragged kicking and screaming to this point and it is seriously alarming that it has taken weeks for him to realize the error of his ways.”

Malinauskas said the $125,000 donation “didn’t come from John Setka, it came from the union itself”.

He said his comment referred to Lensink’s “political point scoring” – noting the former Marshall Government redirected funding away from Catherine House, a charity which supports women who experience domestic violence.

“Michelle Lensink was seeming to draw a connection between a donation from a construction union and somehow it being a reflection on a lack of conviction on my part in respect to standing up against domestic violence,” he said.

Members of the South Australian branch of the CFMEU voted unanimously last Wednesday night to enter into a co-operative administration arrangement with the Victorian division.

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Ahead of the vote, Malinauskas said he was concerned that the culture of the South Australian division would change under a Victorian take-over.

“In South Australia in the industrial landscape, including within construction, we’ve had civil and professional negotiations in the past and I don’t want to see that change,” he said last week.

But SA secretary Andrew Sutherland said the decision was a “significant step towards building a stronger and sustainable South Australian branch”.