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“I haven’t attended a meeting of the ALP national executive since the union was placed into administration, and I resigned recently to formalise this,” Smith said. The unionist had been national secretary of the CFMEU and boss of its ACT branch before it went into administration in 2024. He was one of the few people kept on under the new regime, where he runs the powerful Victorian branch of the union. Other members of Labor’s executive, who weren’t authorised to speak publicly, were surprised when they learned of Smith’s move on Thursday. There had been debates inside Labor about whether it was justifiable to totally exclude any CFMEU-linked person from party affairs, given that the party is built on trade unionism. Smith had set up a meeting in September between one of his organisers and underworld figure-turned-industrial fixer Mick Gatto. Smith apologised for the Gatto meeting and Irving updated union policies to effectively bar further meetings. Gatto has said he has always conducted his business lawfully. There is no suggestion Smith is one of the union figures subject to corruption allegations.
