South Australian Liberal Party front bencher Matt Cowdrey should provide an explanation as to why he has taken to the media to make wildly inaccurate claims about union access to Parliament House.
Mr Cowdrey was reported in the Advertiser on Saturday 16th July 2022 alleging John Setka and two associates were seen in parliament's garden room unaccompanied. He described himself as having been alarmed when 'alerted' to this.
The CFMEU can confirm that not only did Mr Setka not visit the South Australian Parliament, he was in fact not in South Australia at all.
CFMEU South Australian Divisional Branch Secretary Andrew Sutherland, said "Matt Cowdrey should put up or shut up and explain where his claims came from, and why he didn't perform basic fact checking before running to the media with sensationalist quotes and false allegations.
"He can alarm himself with fake stories about union boogeymen hiding in the Garden Room at Parliament House all he wants, but the people of South Australia are entitled to expect better from an elected representative than peddling falsehoods for a cheap headline in the media."
The claims from Cowdrey came amidst a series of inaccurate reporting about plans for the South Australian Divisional Branch of the CFMEU.
"Sensationalist reporting about the CFMEU in South Australia has entirely lost touch with reality, said Sutherland.
"There is no plan to abolish the SA Divisional Branch, it will continue to exist with a local Committee of Management, organisers and officials that will be administered in cooperation with the Victorian Branch. This is an arrangement which will provide the best union service to South Australian members and has been strongly welcomed by our membership.
"The proposed changes, which have not been finalised and are not yet effective, are for two roles only, the roles of President and Secretary and will only be for a limited period.
"South Australian Enterprise Agreements will continue to be handled locally and every worker in the industry should join the CFMEU and negotiate a union enterprise agreement. We are, and will always be, unapologetic for getting our members fair wages and conditions, and safe workplaces. They earn them, and employers are willing to pay them.
"It says it all about the state of our Industrial Relations system, as to just how broken enterprise bargaining is, when workers getting a pay rise is apparently newsworthy across the country."
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