What the testimony establishes so far is a pattern of relationships rather than a proven chain of causation.
A royal commission examining the integrity of major public and civil infrastructure construction in Victoria has heard testimony that places an underworld figure at the heart of a union dispute over a construction site. According to The Guardian, Paul Tzimas, a former official of the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union, told the inquiry that Mick Gatto attended a meeting called about a week after Tzimas and a colleague were seriously assaulted at a construction site.
Tzimas is the first witness associated with the CFMEU to appear before the commission. He told the inquiry on Wednesday that he suffered a fractured ankle in the assault, while his colleague was left with a broken eye socket, damage to his teeth, partial loss of vision and severe PTSD. The report does not say where or when the assault took place. Tzimas agreed that he believed those who assaulted him may have been linked to an outlaw bikie gang, and said the people responsible were linked to the builders and developers at the site.
According to the account given to the commission, the meeting a week later brought union officials together with the builders, who arranged for Gatto to attend. Tzimas said Gatto was known to work for developers and builders to resolve issues with their projects. He also told the inquiry that Gatto later gave him a gold bracelet, which he initially refused because he knew it could be perceived as inappropriate for someone in his position to accept a gift from the other side of the fence. He agreed with counsel assisting Chris Carr that he knew the bracelet was not a worthless trinket, but accepted it after discussing the reasons for the gift. Gatto, he said, described it as an olive branch. Tzimas said he was aware other union officials had also received gold bracelets from Gatto.
The hearing also touched on the union's wider conduct. Carr read out the names of 15 men and asked whether all were union members affiliated with bikie gangs; Tzimas agreed that 11 of them were. He was also asked about a letter the CFMEU wrote on behalf of a man convicted of manslaughter who was seeking parole, confirming he would be offered employment. Tzimas said he was unclear why the union assisted the man, but noted that the man's father had been a union delegate at the time.
The commission's November hearings are focused on a level crossing removal project at Gap Road in Sunbury, north of Melbourne. Tzimas attended the site as part of union action that eventually halted construction, and he attended a meeting at CFMEU headquarters on 7 June 2022 that resulted in work recommencing. The commission has previously heard that at that meeting the union demanded its own health and safety representative, along with union-affiliated traffic management and labour hire companies, be installed on the project before work could resume. The hearing before commissioner Christopher Kourakis continues.
What the testimony establishes so far is a pattern of relationships rather than a proven chain of causation. The commission has not yet made findings on the assault, on Gatto's role, or on the union's conduct at Gap Road, and the report offers no account of who carried out the attack or on whose instruction. The significance lies in the questions the evidence raises about how industrial disputes on public projects are settled, and about the standards expected of officials who negotiate them. Those questions will be tested as the hearings continue.
