Is that ‘police intelligence’, or did you read it in the Herald Sun?

It was bold – even by the standard of police frame-ups. On 19 September, the assistant commissioner of Victoria Police, Steve Fontana, took the witness stand at the Trade Union Royal Commission. His claims were spectacular: “Victoria Police intelligence indicates that criminal activity is undertaken by trade union officials directly and by organised crime figures or groups on behalf of trade union officials.”

The drug trade, debt collection and bikie gangs all got a mention in Fontana’s statement, the latter causing particular concern: “We’ve had some members of outlaw motorcycle gangs involved as union officials”, he said. “Trade unions use outlaw motorcycle gang members as hired muscle for debt collection and standover tactics.”

It’s a frightening picture, and one that fits neatly with the line pushed by media and government alike. Trade unions, and in particular the CFMEU, are in effect criminal organisations and should be treated as such – being “cleaned up or outlawed” in the words of Rupert Murdoch’s Melbourne tabloid, the Herald Sun. However, in the case of Fontana’s evidence, as in so many others, the bullshit doesn’t stand up to closer inspection – even in the kangaroo court that is the Trade Union Royal Commission.

Under cross-examination, Fontana admitted that, despite the sweeping claims presented in his statement, not a single officer of the CFMEU had been arrested or charged (let alone prosecuted or convicted) with an offence involving corruption, the drug trade, blackmail, extortion or secret commissions.

When questioned about which “union officials” are “members of outlaw motorcycle gangs”, Fontana’s “union officials” quickly becomes a single man: Norman Meyer, the sergeant-at-arms of the Comancheros gang. From there, things descended into farce.

Fontana told the royal commission: “My knowledge is, he [Meyer] holds a position within the union.”

John Agius (barrister for the CFMEU): “What position?”

Fontana: “I’d have to go back and have a look at that, I can’t recall, but certainly that’s the advice I’ve been given in relation to him.”

Agius: “Who gave you that advice?”

Fontana: “My people.”

Agius: “Who are your people?”

Fontana: “From the intel area.”

Agius: “The police intelligence is that Mr Meyer is a union official?”

Fontana: “I believe so, yes.”

When told that Norm Meyer is not a union official – and has not, in fact, paid membership dues to the CFMEU since October 2012 – Fontana was all at sea.

Agius: “So there’s no intelligence or evidence that any union officials of the CFMEU are members of an outlaw motorcycle gang?”

Fontana: “Not to my knowledge.”

So much for that grand claim.

In a similar vein, Fontana had made much in his statement of the “publicised association” between Norm Meyer and the CFMEU. Under questioning, Fontana admitted that this “publicised association” referred to a photo of Meyer at a public protest, attended by some thousands of CFMEU members and many others. The photo had been reprinted several times, with sensationalist commentary, in the Herald Sun.

Agius: “Is there any other material relating to [this] ‘publicised association’?”

Fontana: [referring to the picture of Meyer at the rally] “I think that’s the main one I’m referring to in this particular example, yes.”

Agius: “Is that the only one you’re referring to?”

Fontana: “It’s the only one that I’ve been advised of, yes.”

Agius: “To your knowledge it’s the only one that exists?”

Fontana: “That publicised association, yes.”

So Fontana had come in, guns blazing, with “police intelligence” indicating extensive sinister activity across the CFMEU. But within half an hour in the witness stand, he had admitted that much of his “intelligence” was nothing beyond the sorts of claims made by the Murdoch press.

Despite this extraordinary admission, assistant commissioner Fontana wants this same “police intelligence” to be the basis of whole new set of controls on unions. Pride of place under Fontana’s scheme is a proposed new “fit and proper person” test. According to Fontana, “some sort of authority” should have the power to assess whether a union official is a “fit and proper person” to hold office. And police should be able to share, behind closed doors, their “intelligence” with this authority, without the affected person having access or a right to challenge it.

It’s no surprise that senior police would like a system where “their people” can use secret “police intelligence” to eliminate any union official they want. The parallels with other cases of police and media frame-up, based on so called “police intelligence”, should be clear. Whether these efforts are targeted at trade unionists or Muslims, the agenda is the same. The Trade Union Royal Commission is one part of a determined ruling class agenda to roll back our rights across the board.