Famous football club at centre of ‘corruption’, ‘conflict-of-interest’ claims

A storied VFL club that employs a host of football stars has been dragged into the rolling construction industry scandal amid allegations it was improperly propped up with CFMEU members’ funds and building firms seeking to curry favour with union powerbrokers.

The AFL is weighing how to respond to revelations that sponsors of the Port Melbourne Football Club include a crane company implicated in a major alleged tax fraud and a second firm linked to a bikie gang.

The union boss at the centre of questions swirling around the VFL club, Steve Long, told supporters last week that investigators working for CFMEU administrator Mark Irving, KC, had confronted him with conflict-of-interest and corruption allegations.

Although there is no proven wrongdoing and Long strongly contests the allegations, three union sources said Irving’s administration had delivered the veteran union boss an ultimatum: take a redundancy or be sacked.

Long is the second union boss to be recently promoted into a CFMEU leadership and reform role by the administration’s key Victorian executive, Zach Smith, only to be removed, after the recent sacking of Long’s fellow union boss, John Perkovic.

Perkovic was removed late last month after this masthead uncovered evidence he had been allegedly bribed by building firms.

While the allegations against Long are uncorroborated, and this masthead is not suggesting they are true, the move to force him from the union suggests Irving is attempting to finally clean up the scandal-tainted Victorian branch.

Persistent concerns about the integrity of a number of other still-serving organisers and delegates, along with the efforts of disgraced former union bosses such as John Setka to maintain influence, have badly hamstrung Irving’s reform efforts in Victoria.

The move on Long also casts light on the murky world of union-linked building industry sponsorships of sporting clubs, boxing nights and charities, with multiple firms suspected of seeking to convert ostensibly altruistic financial support into union backing on major sites.

Infamous union fixer and gangland figure Mick Gatto is the most prominent of construction industry identities to press building firms to sponsor events, including boxing nights and charities, with a recent sponsorship drive for his autism charity attracting notable underworld and construction sector figures.

Long has played a dual role as a union boss in charge of the crane industry and as point man for the Port Melbourne Football Club.

Port Melbourne is one of the most successful and glorified clubs in the history of the VFL, has two former senior AFL coaches among its leadership in former Essendon coach James Hird and former Western Bulldogs coach Brendon McCartney. Blues champion Marc Murphy is an assistant coach.

There is no suggestion the ex-AFL trio knew of concerns about the CFMEU’s links to the club.

Port Melbourne recently made Long a life member for his “instrumental” role “in helping bring new sponsors to the club, driving fundraising initiatives, assisting with facility maintenance and upgrades”.

Long’s role pressing building companies and the CFMEU itself to sponsor Port Melbourne is well known in the building industry, leading to persistent conflict-of-interest complaints that firms that financially back the VFL team receive preferential union backing in the industry.

Questioned by this masthead, Long said: “I got investigated about all that. It’s just absolute bullshit. It’s just the way it happens, I’m a member down there (Port Melbourne). People just wanted to sponsor the club.”

But building industry and union sources said firms that sponsored Port were backed by the CFMEU, even if they mistreated workers or creditors.

An investigation by this masthead has uncovered that two crane companies that also sponsored Port Melbourne face claims they owe millions of dollars to the ATO.

One of the firms, Titan Cranes, which was named by Port as a “premier” sponsor in its 2024 annual report, was accused last year in court of being party to a decades-long scheme that defrauded the Tax Office of almost $100 million.

Liquidator Darren Vardy is suing Titan Cranes along with one of its owners for $65 million amid allegations the firm broke corporate laws and was allegedly involved in the unlawful tax scheme.

The court claim, which the firm has previously denied, links it to a scheme that ultimately used more than 50 labour-hire, payroll and other firms to siphon off pay-as-you-go tax from at least 2009 to 2023.

The firms were allegedly run by straw directors, including a drug dealer, the dealer’s sex-worker girlfriend and other colourful Sydney identities.

Mr Vardy alleges that Titan or two other men deeply involved with the crane company were the real controllers of the labour-hire firms.

A second crane company that has sponsored Port, Major Crane Logistics, was placed into voluntary administration in 2023, with court files revealing it owed creditors $22.3 million, including tax debts of approximately $19.96 million.

Major Cranes’ administrator has told a court hearing the firm had prospects of surviving because it was “well-respected within the industry, with substantial ongoing contracts and business connections, including good relations with the [CFMEU]“.

Major Cranes declined to comment, while Titan could not be reached.

Building industry sources, speaking anonymously to avoid repercussions, said Irving’s administration had fielded a formal complaint earlier this year from a third crane company that Long had allegedly pressured it to make a suspect payment in return for CFMEU support.

Long was promoted alongside Perkovic in July by Zach Smith, despite this complaint being unresolved at the time.

When previously quizzed about Long, Irving said in a statement that the administration would act “decisively” when there was “credible evidence of wrongdoing”.

Long denied the graft claim when interviewed by the administration’s anti-corruption team, he told this masthead in a brief conversation last week.

Before handing up the phone, Long defended the CFMEU and the building firms sponsoring Port Melbourne.

“They were struggling … nearly gone broke, and we just thought we’d help them out. That’s what happens, you know, when you try to help out a local footy club … local community,” he said.

Other club sponsors include a construction industry labour-hire firm known in the industry to be heavily promoted by the CFMEU, a building company whose industrial relations matters are managed by Gatto, and a scaffolding firm with a key union health and safety representative who is a senior member of the Hells Angels bikie club.

The AFL refused to comment publicly on the union’s involvement with Port Melbourne, but privately conceded it had been monitoring the relationship for some time. The club did not respond when contacted.

When asked directly if it was concerned about the CFMEU’s sponsorship of the club, a league representative said it was a matter for the club, not the VFL’s governing body.

In March, this masthead revealed how companies working on Labor’s Big Build projects had been pressured to fund an outlaw motorcycle gang-linked boxing promotion company as well as a bikie-backed souvlaki day as part of rackets run on state government sites.

The AFL and the CFMEU have crossed paths before.

Earlier this year, the Fair Work Ombudsman took legal action against the union’s disgraced former boss, Setka, following extraordinary comments he made about AFL umpires boss Steve McBurney in news articles and radio appearances in 2024.

McBurney was the head of the Australian Building and Construction Commission between 2018 and 2023, during which time he initiated more than 50 court actions against the union.

The ombudsman alleges Setka took adverse action against McBurney and threatened the AFL that CFMEU members would follow work-to-rule orders at any worksite related to an AFL building project.

In his defence in court, Setka denied the allegations and claimed there was no evidence of delays at AFL building projects.

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