With Jacinta Allen’s Labor government polling third place in the Victorian election in November, the bosses are amping up their anti-union campaign, demanding she call a royal commission to uncover “hidden” evidence of unlawfulness in the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU).

The establishment media, including the ABC, is driving the campaign against the CFMEU. Nick McKenzie from The Age is leading the charge, finding anyone he can to argue the Victorian government has failed to “clean up” the “industry”.

Almost every day, there is another attack piece. On July 20, McKenzie and Kieran Rooney alleged that “Labor’s signature $100 billion Big Build program had been infiltrated by criminal gangs and corrupt union and business practices” and that Allan had failed to deal with the alleged problem. McKenzie and Rooney quote others in their salacious pieces, never verifying their sources.

The fact that no CFMEU official has been convicted does not faze those who want to completely destroy the CFMEU.

The few charges which were laid against organisers such as Gerry McCrudden or First Nations organiser Joel Shackleton, appear to have stalled, either due to lack of evidence or because they were so minor.

Predictably, Labor’s defence has been weak,........

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