ROYAL COMMISSION INTO TRADE UNION GOVERNANCE AND CORRUPTION
CFMEU NSW
Level 5, 55 Market Street, Sydney, NSW 2000
On Monday, 1 September 2014 at 10.00am
Before the Commissioner: The Hon. John Dyson Heydon AC QC
Counsel Assisting: Mr Jeremy Stoljar SC
Mr Michael Elliott
Instructed by: Minter Ellison, Solicitors
.01/09/2014 1
Transcript produced by Merrill Corporation
1 THE COMMISSIONER: Yes, Mr Stoljar.
2
3 MR STOLJAR: Commissioner, the terms of reference authorise
4 you to enquire into any conduct which may amount to
5 a breach of any law by an officer of a trade union, and
6 into any bribe, secret commission or other unlawful payment
7 or benefit arising from any arrangements or understandings
8 between an officer of a trade union and any other party.
9
10 Today's public hearing forms part of an investigation
11 into whether officers of the NSW branch of the Construction
12 and General Division of the CFMEU have or have had
13 relationship with Mr George Alex, a person with
14 well-publicised connections with organised crime.
15
16 One aspect of this inquiry is whether officers of the
17 NSW branch of the Construction and General Division of the
18 CFMEU have received secret commissions or other benefits
19 arising from arrangements or understandings with Mr George
20 Alex and companies associated with him.
21
22 Mr Brian Parker is the Secretary of the NSW Branch of
23 the CFMEU. Mr Darren Greenfield is an elected organiser of
24 the branch who operates mainly in the scaffolding sector of
25 the construction industry in Sydney. Questions have been
26 raised about the relationship between each of these CFMEU
27 officers, other officers of the CFMEU, Mr Alex and
28 companies associated with him.
29
30 Mr Alex is an undischarged bankrupt and, as such, may
31 not act as a director of a company. Notwithstanding this
32 fact, Mr Alex has a substantial interest in companies
33 operating in the commercial industry in New South Wales and
34 exercises considerable control over their affairs.
35
36 One of those businesses is a scaffolding business run
37 by the company called Elite Action Scaffolding (NSW) Pty
38 Ltd. The other is a labour hire business, which is the
39 kind of business the union opposes and seeks to limit in
40 number. Mr Alex' labour hire business is run through
41 Active Labour Pty Ltd.
42
43 In the last decade Mr Alex has used no less than four
44 different companies called "Active" to run a labour hire
45 business. The previous companies have all failed, one
46 after the other. Active Workforce Pty Ltd was deregistered
47 in July 2012. It had an EBA with the CFMEU. Active
.01/09/2014 2
Transcript produced by Merrill Corporation
1 Workforce (NSW) Pty Ltd went into administration in 2012.
2 It too had an EBA with the CFMEU. It went into
3 administration only halfway through the term of its EBA.
4 Active Site Payroll Services (NSW) Pty Ltd had liquidators
5 appointed in August 2013. It too had an EBA with the
6 CFMEU. It too went into external administration before
7 reaching the halfway point of the term of the EBA.
8
9 As for the scaffolding business, it also failed and
10 then rose up again under a new company. Elite Holdings
11 Group Pty Ltd was the first vehicle through which this
12 business was run. It went into liquidation in July 2013.
13 It had an EBA with the CFMEU. It collapsed before the
14 first year of that EBA had expired. The scaffolding
15 business is now run by a company called Elite Access
16 Scaffolding. That company was granted an EBA by the CFMEU
17 as the previous company was being wound up.
18
19 It has been widely publicised that Mr Alex has close
20 relationships with convicted criminals. He has reportedly
21 attended functions with the likes of Mr Khaled Sharrouf and
22 Mr Bill Fatrouni, each of whom have previously been
23 convicted and gaoled for serious criminal offences.
24 Reports of this kind have been relatively common since
25 early 2013, however the CFMEU continues to deal with
26 Mr Alex and businesses associated with him.
27
28 Before proceeding further, I pause to recall the
29 evidence of Mr Brian Fitzpatrick. A former organiser in
30 the employ of the NSW branch of the CFMEU, his evidence was
31 to the effect that he began asking tough questions of
32 Mr Parker and other union officials about Mr Alex in 2013,
33 at a time when the CFMEU was on the brink of granting the
34 latest Active and Elite companies new enterprise
35 agreements, the previous companies having just collapsed.
36 After doing so Mr Fitzpatrick received a violently worded
37 telephone call from Mr Greenfield. Mr Fitzpatrick was in
38 due course marginalised and pushed out of the union.
39
40 Why was Mr Fitzpatrick treated in this extreme way?
41
42 Why has the CFMEU continued to award EBAs to Mr Alex'
43 companies given the repeated failures of his businesses,
44 his ongoing publicised connections with criminal
45 identities, and the labour hire nature of his business to
46 which the union is opposed?
47
.01/09/2014 3
Transcript produced by Merrill Corporation
1 Among other things, the Commission is investigating
2 whether Mr Alex and others associated with the Active and
3 Elite businesses have made payments to or conferred other
4 benefits on certain union officials.
5
6 To take and receive such payments or benefits would be
7 unlawful and a breach of the union's professional
8 standards. It would constitute, amongst other things, an
9 offence under section 249B of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW),
10 and a breach of sections 286, 287 and 288 of the Fair Work
11 (Registered Organisations) Act.
12
13 The Commission has obtained records from the NSW
14 Police which appear to bear on the nature and extent of the
15 relationship between Mr Alex and officers of the NSW branch
16 of the CFMEU. Individuals connected to these records have
17 declined to provide statements to the Commission. It has
18 therefore been necessary to summons those persons to compel
19 them to answer questions about these records. That is the
20 purpose of today's hearing.
21
22 At the conclusion of the evidence of these witnesses,
23 parties who think they have an interest in the matters
24 raised may seek directions for the service of materials in
25 accordance with the procedure set out in Practice
26 Direction 1.
27
28 Commissioner, unless there are any new appearances or
29 applications, the first witness is Mr Doug Westerway.
30
31 THE COMMISSIONER: Mr Agius, your team is as before?
32
33 MR J AGIUS: Yes.
34
35 <DOUGLAS WESTERWAY, sworn: [10.10am]
36
37 <EXAMINATION BY MR STOLJAR:
38
39 MR STOLJAR: Q. Could you tell the Commission your full
40 name?
41 A. Yes, Douglas Westerway.
42
43 Q. Is it Westerway, e-r-w-a-y?
44 A. That's correct.
45
46 Q. You are a resident of New South Wales?
47 A. Yes.
.01/09/2014 4 D WESTERWAY (Mr Stoljar)
Transcript produced by Merrill Corporation
1
2 Q. And what is your current occupation?
3 A. Project manager.
4
5 Q. You have been summonsed to attend and give evidence
6 today?
7 A. That's correct.
8
9 Q. The Commission is in the possession of certain
10 documents seized by the NSW Police. Those documents were
11 seized from businesses with which you had some association
12 last year and I just want to be clear, when you're giving
13 your evidence, that those documents will be closely
14 scrutinised for the purpose of assessing whether the
15 answers you give today are truthful. Do you understand
16 that?
17 A. I understand that.
18
19 Q. I want to make sure that you fully understand that the
20 law provides that as a person who has been summonsed to
21 give evidence to this Commission, you are under an
22 obligation to tell the truth?
23 A. I understand that.
24
25 Q. And there are serious penalties if a witness, who has
26 been summonsed before the Commission to tell the truth,
27 does not do so. You understand that?
28 A. Yes, I do.
29
30 Q. As I indicated before, last year you had some
31 involvement in a company, or a number of companies which
32 have the name Elite?
33 A. That's correct.
34
35 Q. Scaffolding businesses?
36 A. Yes.
37
38 Q. Perhaps before we get to that, I'll just get a little
39 more detail about your background and experience. What did
40 you do after you left school?
41 A. I joined the Police Force.
42
43 Q. How long were you in the Police Force?
44 A. Eleven years.
45
46 Q. What rank did you obtain?
47 A. Detective senior constable.
.01/09/2014 5 D WESTERWAY (Mr Stoljar)
Transcript produced by Merrill Corporation
1
2 Q. So you were in the Force for about 11 years, and when
3 did you leave the Force?
4 A. 1992.
5
6 Q. What did you do after that?
7 A. I became a builder.
8
9 Q. Did you receive some qualification in that regard?
10 A. Yes.
11
12 Q. When you say "became a builder", you are a licensed
13 builder?
14 A. Yes.
15
16 Q. Did you then carry out work as a builder?
17 A. Yes.
18
19 Q. Did you work for any third parties?
20 A. Yes. I worked as a construction manager for some
21 firms.
22
23 Q. Who were the firms?
24 A. Eden Bray.
25
26 Q. And how long did that go on for?
27 A. Four or five years.
28
29 Q. In due course you did some work for a scaffolding
30 business. How did you become involved in Elite Access
31 Scaffolding?
32 A. I was introduced to George Alex.
33
34 Q. Can you tell me the circumstances in which that came
35 about?
36 A. I was doing a building consultancy report on some
37 units at Waverley.
38
39 Q. Who were you doing that for?
40 A. For an accountant, Jerry Kekatos, who was the owner of
41 the property. There were some difficulties with the
42 building and I was doing a report as to the defects and
43 problems with the construction.
44
45 Q. When were you doing that?
46 A. In February, early March, of 2013.
47
.01/09/2014 6 D WESTERWAY (Mr Stoljar)
Transcript produced by Merrill Corporation
1 Q. And what happened then?
2 A. I was there for some weeks. It was quite
3 a complicated investigation and report to do. I had to go
4 to each unit, there were 26 of them, I think, and there was
5 a foreman there, or a caretaker, who let me into the
6 buildings and show me around, and I got to know him and
7 he - he suggested to me that he wanted to introduce me to
8 somebody called George Alex.
9
10 Q. Had you heard of Mr Alex before that time?
11 A. No, not at all.
12
13 Q. So I take it that you had had no dealings with him at
14 that point?
15 A. No.
16
17 Q. How did you come to meet Mr Alex
18 A. A meeting was arranged and I went across to his house
19 at Burwood.
20
21 Q. When did that take place?
22 A. Either late February or early March of 2013.
23
24 Q. Who was present at the meeting?
25 A. George Alex, Joe Antoun and a range of other people
26 I didn't know.
27
28 Q. How many other people?
29 A. Oh, normally there would have been six or seven people
30 there. Mace Hourani was there, I'm sorry, Mace Hourani.
31
32 Q. This was all at this first meeting?
33 A. Yes.
34
35 Q. Can you just tell me the layout of the house a little
36 bit? Where did the meeting take place?
37 A. There's a balcony at the back of the house, an
38 undercover balcony, and there is a long meeting table on
39 that balcony, and that's where nearly all the meetings took
40 place.
41
42 Q. Were there gentlemen just sitting around the table?
43 A. That's correct.
44
45 Q. Were they there when you arrived?
46 A. Yes.
47
.01/09/2014 7 D WESTERWAY (Mr Stoljar)
Transcript produced by Merrill Corporation
1 Q. Were they there when you left?
2 A. They came and went. So it wasn't a static kind of
3 meeting, you know, people would come and join the table and
4 leave the table and - it was fairly fluid.
5
6 Q. Let's just focus on this first meeting. What did
7 Mr Alex say to you about the work he required?
8 A. Again, it was some things from George Alex and some
9 things from Mace Hourani because George would often leave
10 the table irregularly, that's the best way to put it, he