THE Trade Union Royal Commission began its Canberra hearings into the local branch of the CFMEU yesterday and the transcript is available online.

Master Builders ACT have come out saying the first days evidence vindicates their claim about the building industry.

“Damning evidence from the first day of the Trade Union Royal Commission in Canberra supports previous claims by Master Builders ACT that the ACT CFMEU allegedly extracts payments from contractors as a ‘price of doing business’,” said Master Builders ACT’s Director of Industrial Relations John Nikolic.

“Today’s evidence at the Royal Commission was that building contractors paid large amounts of money to a union official, in exchange for competitive advantages apparently offered by the union.

“Master Builders hopes that the Royal Commission hearings in Canberra are the start of a clean-up of the building industry in Canberra, which has been afflicted by unlawful market manipulation for too long, as union-preferred contractors (those who have ‘paid the price’) allegedly obtain preferential treatment in winning work.”

In reply the General Division National Office of the CFMEU provided this statement:

The allegations of bribery heard today at the Royal Commission in Canberra are serious and should be referred to the police.

Both parties to the alleged bribes which were the subject of evidence today should be prosecuted and dealt with by criminal courts.

The CFMEU does not tolerate corruption in its ranks and as we have consistently maintained, if there is an investigation, the police will have the full cooperation of the union.

Mr Halafihi Kivalu is no longer employed by the CFMEU.

He is not supported or represented by the union in these proceedings.