The South Australian Labor Party will return a $125,000 donation from the construction union, a decision that was prompted by the alleged vandalism of vehicles belonging to staff from the Master Builders Association.
Key points:
- The Victorian branch of the CFMEU donated $125,000 to the SA Labor Party before the March election
- SA Labor has now confirmed it will return the money
- Cars with Master Builders Association branding were allegedly vandalized with CFMEU stickers last week
The Victorian branch of the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) made the donation in the lead-up to the March election in South Australia.
For several weeks, Premier Peter Malinauskas has been resisting calls for the donation to be returned or given to charity, despite going into the election with a promise to ban donations to political parties for future elections.
SA Labor state secretary Aemon Bourke confirmed on Monday the donation would be returned to the Victorian CFMEU.
Opposition spokeswoman for women Michelle Lensink last week called on Mr Malinauskas to donate the money to a domestic violence charity after Victorian CFMEU boss John Setka formally took control of the union’s South Australian branch.
Mr Setka’s ex-wife Emma Walters also called for the money to be passed on to a domestic violence charity and has previously voiced concerns over the donation to the Labor Party.
In 2019, Mr Setka was convicted of harassing Ms Walters via text messages while they were still together.
“What I’d actually rather see is that he [Mr Malinauskas] actually go to domestic violence shelters and actually put together care packages for women who have had the courage and courage to escape domestic violence situations,” Ms Walters told ABC Radio Adelaide.
Mr Malinauskas this morning said he was prompted to return the money after speaking with Master Builders Association chief executive Will Frogley at an event on Sunday.
“Will explained to me the events that had occurred, reportedly, on Friday afternoon in terms of CFMEU stickers being put on Master Builders Association cars and also the damage to a car as well,” Mr Malinauskas said.
“Just as I foreshadowed whenever I’ve been asked about this over the past couple of weeks, I said that if there was any evidence that would suggest that inappropriate behavior on behalf of the CFMEU was coming across the border from Victoria, if there’s examples of that or evidence of that occurring here in South Australia then I will act and that’s exactly what I did yesterday afternoon upon hearing that news.”
Mr Malinauskas said he had resisted calls by Ms Lensink to donate the money to a domestic violence charity based on Mr Setka’s previous conviction because the money came from the CFMEU and not Mr Setka personally.
Mr Frogley confirmed to ABC Radio Adelaide that cars had been damaged on Friday evening but would not go into details regarding CFMEU stickers allegedly being placed on the vehicles.
He said as a result of Friday’s incident, he had increased security at the Master Builders Association and would be installing additional surveillance cameras.
“Everyone in my team should be able to come into work feeling completely unintimidated and safe,” he said.
Mr Frogley said the incident had been reported to police.
He also said he backed Mr Malinauskas’s position on banning political donations.
“Rightly or wrongly, there is always going to be this perception that you’re buying political muscle by doing that,” he said.
“Does Master Builders try to influence government policy? You bet we do, but we don’t donate to any political party. Instead, we focus on putting forward a compelling case on facts based on evidence, based on data on why government policy should be a certain way.”
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