The South Australian Labor Party will return a $125,000 donation from the construction union after several vehicles belonging to staff from Master Builders Association were allegedly vandalised, which the union has denied any involvement.
The party state executive met on Monday morning after cars belonging to staff from the Master Builders Association were allegedly vandalised and found with CFMEU stickers on Friday.
CFMEU SA said there was no evidence their members were involved with the alleged damage to cars, labelling Premier Peter Malinauskas' request to return the donation a "knee-jerk reaction".
The Victorian branch of the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), which last week took over the South Australian branch, made the donation in the lead-up to the March election in South Australia.
For several weeks, the premier has been resisting calls for the donation to be returned or given to charity, despite going into the election with a promise to ban donations to political parties for future elections.
However, Mr Malinauskas has since reversed his decision after speaking with Master Builders Association chief executive Will Frogley at an event on Sunday about the alleged vandalism.
South Australian Labor state secretary Aemon Bourke on Monday confirmed the donation would be returned to Victorian CFMEU.
"Will explained to me the events that had occurred, reportedly, on Friday afternoon in terms of CFMEU stickers being put on Master Builders Association cars and also the damage to a car as well," Mr Malinauskas said on Monday.
"Just as I foreshadowed whenever I've been asked about this over the past couple of weeks, I said that if there was any evidence that would suggest that inappropriate behaviour on behalf of the CFMEU was coming across the border from Victoria, if there's examples of that or evidence of that occurring here in South Australia then I will act and that's exactly what I did yesterday afternoon upon hearing that news."
CFMEU SA secretary Andrew Sutherland said the union was not given any opportunity to respond nor to investigate the allegations.
"The CFMEU does not, and has not, authorised, encouraged or sanctioned any acts of vandalism as claimed," Mr Sutherland said.
"Had the Premier come to us instead of the media, we would have assured him of these facts, and of our preparedness to investigate the allegations and take appropriate action.
"The Premier's erratic decision to demand the return of our election donation is a significant betrayal of the CFMEU members who supported him during the election campaign, and who responded to his party's fundraising efforts."
Donation to charity
Opposition spokeswoman for women Michelle Lensink last week called on Mr Malinauskas to donate the money to a domestic violence charity after Victorian CFMEU boss John Setka formally took control of the union's South Australian branch.
Mr Setka's ex-wife Emma Walters also called for the money to be passed on to a domestic violence charity and has previously voiced concerns over the donation to the Labor Party.
In 2019, Mr Setka was convicted of harassing Ms Walters via text messages while they were still together.
"What I'd actually rather see is that he [Mr Malinauskas] actually go to domestic violence shelters and actually put together care packages for women who have had the courage and bravery to escape domestic violence situations," Ms Walters told ABC Radio Adelaide.
Mr Malinauskas said he had resisted calls by Ms Lensink to donate the money to a domestic violence charity based on Mr Setka's previous conviction because the money came from the CFMEU and not Mr Setka personally.
Education Minister Blair Boyer on Monday said party rules dictated donations must be returned to donors.
"I'm told that the party's rules don't allow us to return the money to a charity that didn't give the money in the first place," he said.
The Premier also labelled Ms Lensink's suggestion for the money to be donated as "a little cute".
Ms Lensink disagreed, adding that Mr Malinauskas should apologise to Ms Walters.
"[The SA Labor party] can donate $125,000 today to a range of domestic and family violence charities — these are just excuses," Ms Lensink said.
"[Ms Walters] has expressed her huge concerns about the language that [Mr Malinauskas has] used which he has not resiled from.
"I was astonished when the Premier said that the trigger … was broken windscreen wipers when clearly this is an issue that has caused distress for survivors and victims of domestic violence."
Car damage reported to police
Mr Frogley confirmed to ABC Radio Adelaide that cars had been damaged on Friday evening but would not go into details regarding CFMEU stickers allegedly being placed on the vehicles.
He said as a result of Friday's incident, he had increased security at the Master Builders Association and would be installing additional surveillance cameras.
"Everyone in my team should be able to come into work feeling completely unintimidated and safe," he said.
Mr Frogley said the incident had been reported to police.
He also said he backed Mr Malinauskas's position on banning political donations.
"Rightly or wrongly, there is always going to be this perception that you're buying political muscle by doing that," he said.
"Does Master Builders try to influence government policy? You bet we do, but we don't donate to any political party. Instead, we focus on putting forward a compelling case on facts based on evidence, based on data on why government policy should be a certain way."
