Updated ,first published
A senior executive of Australian infrastructure giant BMD has been accused of secretly meeting violent members of a Melbourne bikie gang in a Brisbane sushi restaurant as part of a plot to threaten a CFMEU activist blamed for causing problems on an Albanese government-funded project.
The revelations have prompted the Labor-backed CFMEU administrator, Michael Crosby, to issue a fresh call for government action to combat the “complete failure of the regulatory system” and to call on companies with alleged links to bikie gangs and the underworld to clean up their backyards.
BMD manager Robert Pickard has also been accused in a Queensland inquiry of attempting to cover up the incident after the CFMEU crane driver complained that the leader of a three-man Melbourne bikie crew had threatened to burn down his house and murder his family during a subsequent confrontation on the $350 million Centenary Bridge project.
Counsel assisting the Queensland Commission of Inquiry into the CFMEU, Eddy Gisonda, KC, suggested on Wednesday afternoon that the terrifying standover incident occurred a short time after Pickard had met the bikie trio at a sushi shop a short stroll from the bridge redevelopment.
But while being questioned by Gisonda, Pickard repeatedly denied allegations that he knew of or witnessed the alleged Comanchero gang standover on June 5, 2024. He also dismissed suggestions he had met the bikies at the sushi shop or coordinated the alleged standover with the owner of BMD’s security subcontractor, Melbourne company Host.
Pickard’s denials came after Gisonda presented a detailed circumstantial case to back up his accusation that Pickard and BMD’s human resources chief, Steve Thomas, appeared to have played a key role in the suspected Comanchero standover of CFMEU-affiliated crane driver Cody Raymond, a man blamed for helping the construction union target BMD.
Evidence aired by Gisonda before Commissioner Stuart Wood included receipts showing that one of the three bikies had purchased sushi just minutes after Pickard and Thomas had placed orders at the sushi shop.
A short time after that, Pickard and Thomas can be seen on CCTV walking towards the Centenary Bridge project as they are trailed by three Comancheros and Melbourne businessman Gary Samuel, the BMD security subcontractor who was hired to counter an aggressive campaign by the CFMEU targeting BMD.
Pickard disagreed with Gisonda’s suggestion that he and Thomas had led the bikies to the work site at a distance to “to make sure the coast was clear” before Raymond was approached and threatened.
Phone data presented by Gisonda also revealed repeated contact or attempted contact between Samuel and both Pickard and Thomas around the time Samuel was picking up the three Melbourne bikies from Brisbane airport, as well as just after what the barrister alleged was a secret rendezvous at the sushi outlet.
During the hearing, Wood appeared to accept that Samuel had engineered the bikie standover in retaliation for the conduct of the CFMEU.
“It makes sense for Mr Samuel to do this,” Wood suggested, referring to the use of the three feared bikie identities.
“It might be quite unlawful … [but he had been] taking a knife to a gun fight and he wants to improve the tactics” in respect of BMD’s strategy, he said, to resist CFMEU pressure and in light of the indifference of state authorities to union conduct.
“I am not saying it excuses him … But it gives a rational explanation for what he did,” Wood said of Samuel.
During the hearing, Wood also queried why BMD had told police in November 2024 that CCTV of the bikie incident was no longer available, given the company had provided the vision to Wood’s commission earlier this year. Wood also asked Gisonda to make inquiries about whether it was unlawful for a company or person to “deliberately or inadvertently mislead the police”.
But Pickard dismissed the claim that he or BMD were party to a bikie threat plot or that Pickard had sought to “deflect” attention away from his own or Samuel’s role in allegedly coordinating the potentially criminal act.
Wednesday’s hearing will ultimately inform Wood as he weighs whether the circumstantial evidence gathered by Gisonda and the Queensland Police investigators assisting his inquiry is strong enough to allow Wood to make an adverse finding about Pickard or BMD’s involvement in the bikie plot.
Gisonda opened the hearing on Wednesday by revealing that law enforcement agencies suspected the Comancheros of seeking to build a construction empire via front companies and by infiltrating union ranks.
He claimed police intelligence, including extensive phone data, indicated the Comanchero bikie gang had in early 2024 embarked on a concerted effort to do this in both Victoria and Queensland.
According to Gisonda, this effort involved the now former Melbourne-based Comanchero boss Bemir Saracevic. Saracevic is the same bikie figure Gisonda identified as allegedly leading the standover of Raymond.
Gisonda also tabled union-backed enterprise bargaining agreements allegedly secured by Comanchero-linked building firms in Victoria, including an EBA signed off by the CFMEU administration last month and by the Australian Workers’ Union in 2025.
A separate investigation by The Age has established that basic due diligence should have revealed to both unions that these firms had business links to the Comancheros: one had previously been refused a licence to operate by Victoria’s Labour Hire Authority, while both had clear links to the wife of Saracevic.
In a statement, Crosby told this masthead that the EBA his union had recently granted a firm now alleged to be Comanchero-linked was intended to protect workers. The CFMEU administrator said it was up to government, and not the CFMEU, to prevent underworld infiltration.
“The Administrator has called for a Fit and Proper Persons Test to be applied to participants in the construction industry. It’s time the industry was cleaned up. It’s time to stop blaming workers for the complete failure of the regulatory system. It’s not the job of the union to clean up the industry,” he said.
“We’ll clean up our backyard – it’s time for employers to clean up theirs.”
The Queensland hearing has also placed immense scrutiny on BMD, which is currently working on Victoria’s Eastern Freeway upgrade and other Big Build projects. In Sydney, it is working on the new international airport in Western Sydney.
In July, the Crisafulli government in Queensland announced that BMD had won the contract to undertake early works for the new Brisbane Stadium Olympics venue.
Asked by this masthead about the evidence heard at the commission suggesting BMD associated with underworld-linked figures in the alleged Centenary Bridge stand-over incident and whether BMD’s internal investigation into the matter was adequate, the company’s spokesperson said: “BMD has additional representatives to appear over the coming days and it would be premature for us to comment.”
When Thomas, BMD’s human resources chief, gave evidence to the commission on Wednesday afternoon, he also denied being aware of the three bikie figures as they and Samuel appeared to trail Pickard and the human resources manager as they walked towards the location where Raymond was confronted.
Thomas insisted he had not witnessed or had any prior knowledge of the bikie gang activity on June 5. Thomas, who will give further evidence on Thursday, also defended his failure to provide CCTV of the incident to the QLD Police when they first sought it in late 2024.
“I took all reasonable steps to locate that footage at that time… I wasn’t able to locate that footage,” Thomas said.
The revelations at the Queensland inquiry give Australians a taste of what is likely to be unveiled at the promised and upcoming Victorian royal commission. Many of the key subjects discussed at this week’s hearings in Brisbane are from Melbourne and are variously entrenched in both Victoria’s underworld and its building sector.
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.
From our partners
Read the full article here
