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March 26, 2025
Opposition frontbencher James Paterson says he will stand by his assessments of underworld figure Mick Gatto and his conduct in the construction industry.
Gatto has featured repeatedly in reporting by the Herald and 60 Minutes as part of the Building Bad investigation into the CFMEU and the building sector. On Monday, Gatto issued a statement saying he denied all accusations made against him, calling them ''baseless, sensationalised and damaging to my reputation and personal life''.
''I have always conducted my business and personal affairs with integrity,'' Gatto said. ''I will not allow these falsehoods to tarnish my name.''
As well as the media outlets, Gatto called out Paterson and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton in his demands for retractions and apologies.
Speaking in the Senate yesterday, Paterson said he would not resile from earlier statements as he blamed the government's abolishment of the Australian Building and Construction Commission for the issues exposed in the Building Bad investigation.
''I note in the last 24 hours that Mr Gatto has had a few things to say about me and the leader of the opposition,'' Paterson said.
''All I would say in response to that is that I am not intimidated by Mr Gatto, I will not be retracting any statements I have made about him and I am more determined than ever before to help clean up the building industry and crack down on this criminal enterprise that is the modern CFMEU.''
He blasted independent MPs including Monique Ryan and Zoe Daniel for voting with the government to scrap the ABCC.
''The government was warned that if they voted to abolish the [ABCC] that they would let the CFMEU off the leash, that they would allow the CFMEU to return to and expand their criminal ways and that is exactly what has happened,'' he said.
''The member for Kooyong, Monique Ryan ... the member for Goldstein, Zoe Daniel, they voted with the Labor Party to abolish the ABCC and to let the CFMEU off the leash and the consequences of those votes and the consequences of those decisions were put to air for all Australians to see.''
Paterson later said that Ryan and Daniel should change their minds on abolishing the ABCC.
''Everyone knew it would unleash criminality and violence on building sites,'' he said in a statement. ''The least they can now do is admit they got it wrong and commit to voting to restore it, along with the Coalition's proposed new strong racketeering powers to go after the criminal kingpins profiting from taxpayer-funded infrastructure projects.''
Ryan and Daniel were contacted for comment.
Gatto's public statement was responding to a series of recent claims in the Herald and on 60 Minutes about his role in the building industry including revealing that an Australian Federal Police raid on his accountant this month was linked to an investigation of suspect payments in the sector. No charges have been laid and it is not suggested that any offence has been committed.
In response, Dutton said he would challenge Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to introduce national racketeering laws to tackle allegations of CFMEU corruption which he described last week as ''the biggest corruption scandal in our country's history''.
Workplace Minister Murray Watt said the recent reporting by the Herald had revealed ''appalling allegations''.
Watt told the Senate that the ABCC had failed when it was in place and that the CFMEU administrator should be left to continue his work in cleaning up the union.