CFMEU organiser’s car firebombed outside their home

A car owned by a construction union official has been firebombed in an incident that exposes the violence and intimidation still permeating the nation’s building industry.

The ute belonging to a senior organiser in the NSW branch of the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union was torched about 1am on Monday.

The ute was set on fire outside the organiser’s Sydney home, forcing the CFMEU administrator to urgently call in state and federal police and take steps to protect the official.

Three construction industry sources, who declined to speak on the public record citing fear of blowback, confirmed the firebombing.

The same organiser previously had their house spray-painted with threatening graffiti.

Loading

The torching of the official’s car comes as CFMEU administrator Mark Irving, SC, attempts to assert control over a union, and within an industry, dogged by underworld figures and operating within a culture of fear and violence.

One line of investigation being considered by authorities is that the official’s car was targeted in connection to an industrial dispute on a major NSW state government site last week.

The organiser was involved in a dispute with a scaffolding company on the site over safety issues.