Union hired convicted killer as health and safety rep
An inquiry into a union has begun to resemble an episode of a notorious crime drama as it heard details of corruption, violence and intimidation.
Michael Strike was 38 years old and on his way home when he found Trouble.
Trouble was a dog, tethered outside the home of the Bandidos motorcycle gang in Brunswick, Melbourne.
Strike made the fatal mistake of riling Trouble â but it wasnât the dog that bit him.
Instead, the doors of the clubhouse swung open and Strike was set upon by two men: Luke Maybus and Johnny âTwo Gunsâ Walker.
They dragged Strike inside and beat him to death, before rolling his body up in a rug and dumping him at East Keilor cemetery.
Maybus and Walker were sentenced to 10 and eight years in jail respectively for manslaughter â an outcome, barrister Geoffrey Watson told an inquiry Thursday, made them the two luckiest men in Victoria.
You might like
But âTwo Gunsâ â named for his muscularity, not his armoury â was even luckier than Watson thought.
Before he was even released, he had a job lined up as a âhealth and safety representativeâ by the CFMEU.
Watson was giving evidence in Queenslandâs Royal Commission into the CFMEU and broader misconduct in the construction industry.
But for the past two days, much of his evidence has focused on the Victorian division under the leadership of the since dethroned John Setka.
Watsonâs report, Rotting from the Top, sent shockwaves through Victorian politics after being tendered to the Inquiry on Wednesday.
It alleged the CFMEU had gained a monopoly over Victorian construction during the stateâs $100 billion âBig Buildâ that started under former premier Daniel Andrews in 2015.
Stay informed, daily
One of Watsonâs sources told him the scale of the infrastructure created the ideal conditions for corruption and criminality to flourish.
âAll of a sudden there was too much government money and too many really big jobs,â the source said.
âThere was a shortage of labour and the CFMEU had all the negotiating power.â
Apart from Setka, one name recurs in Watsonâs report no less than 165 times is his friend, underworld identity Mick Gatto.
In his report, and to the inquiry, Watson described what he called Gattoâs extortion model, where he would ring contractors and tell them he could stop work at a site at a momentâs notice unless he was paid a fee.
The cost to the Victorian taxpayer was enormous â conservatively estimated by Watson at up to $15 billion in cost blowouts and overruns.
In his report, he came to the conclusion that under Setka, âthe CFMEU was no longer a trade union, it was a crime syndicateâ before finally being placed into administration by the Albanese government in August 2024.
Since then, Watson has reported on the Queensland division of the CFMEU, which he told the inquiry had been trying to import the business model of the Victorian branch.
It showed that after the Victorian branch had rotted from the top, the rot had since spread to the Sunshine State.
The inquiry will resume on March 10.
-with AAP
Want to see more stories from InDaily Qld in your Google search results?
- Click here to set InDaily Qld as a preferred source.
- Tick the box next to "InDaily Qld". That's it.
