The CFMEU saga has derailed the government's cost-of-living agenda and left Albanese open to attackBy political correspondent Brett Worthington 18Jul2024https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-18/cfmeu-union-saga-anthony-albanese-federal-labor-agenda/104113892
Quote [ In the end, the outcome was inevitable. Watching federal Labor respond to the scandal that has engulfed the CFMEU is akin to watching a brakeless freight train heading straight for a crowded station. There was never going to be a neat off-ramp or a miracle stopping of this train. As it often is in politics, it was destined to be a case of crash, or crash through, for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Amid accusations that bikies and underworld figures had infiltrated the construction division of the union, Labor was always going to have to cut off the affiliation and the donations it has long received from the construction division of the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union, as it announced on Thursday afternoon. State Labor premiers knew that. As the reports came out in Nine newspapers, the Victorian, NSW and Queensland leaders were almost immediately seeking severance from a union that's perhaps better known for making headlines about alleged thuggery than it is for ensuring workers have safe workplaces. Federal Labor bans donations, cuts ties with scandal-engulfed CFMEU Amid growing pressure from state premiers, Labor's federal leaders have suspended its links to the construction division of the CFMEU, which has been engulfed in scandals in recent days.Read moreBut right from the start of the week, Albanese was refusing to go as far as his party's state leaders.]
