Grattan on Friday: it’s good to put administrators into the CFMEU – but how do you prevent future crops of bad apples?

Former leading Canberra press gallery journalist, Laurie Oakes, now retired, had a cut-through question about the government’s response this week to the CFMEU crisis.

“Bill Shorten tough and effective on CFMEU,” Oakes posted on social media after Shorten’s appearance on the ABC’s 7.30. “Why wasn’t it Albo taking the lead?”

The prime minister could point out he was in Queensland, campaigning, and unveiling candidates for the election. Regardless, Oakes’ question was spot on.

The PM wouldn’t have missed the sharp comparison with Shorten, the former Labor leader, who is always closely watched by the Albanese camp.

Albanese has answered questions about the CFMEU scandal all week. But despite the magnitude of the issue, he has left the public front-running to Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke.

The government needed to cauterise the imbroglio as fast as possible. Hence the huge flurry of activity, centred on having the Fair Work Commission get underway the appointment of administrators into the construction division in eastern Australia.

On Thursday the ALP’s national executive suspended the affiliation of the construction division to the NSW, Victorian, South Australian and Tasmanian branches of the Labor Party. This means the party won’t levy any affiliation fees or accept donations. Delegates won’t be able to attend ALP conferences.

(The construction division is almost all that is left of the union. The miners have left and the manufacturing division is on the way out. The only other division is the Maritime Union of Australia and no action has been taken against it.)

The desire to put the CFMEU issue behind it may have driven the government’s choice to have the Fair Work Commission apply to appoint the administrators, rather than doing so itself.

“What I’m wanting to do is make sure this is a process under the regulator and not a political process,” Burke said at his Wednesday news conference.

Burke has promised the government will play an active supportive role to the Fair Work Commission, even legislating if that becomes necessary. Still, it’s hard to avoid the conclusion the government’s aim is to keep the follow-through at a distance, especially in the run-up to the election. That’s likely to mean fewer media questions.

When he was workplace relations minister in the Gillard government, Shorten took a different course with the Health Services Union.

The HSU was even more scandal-ridden than the construction division of the CFMEU. In dealing with it, the government acted directly, itself applying to put in an administrator.

Shorten has a special interest in the CFMEU. The Australian Workers’ Union, which he formerly headed, has had years of conflict and competition with the CFMEU. Shorten retains his interest in industrial relations more broadly. Nevertheless it was notable to see him turn up in the high-profile 7.30 interview on the day of Burke’s announcement (albeit with approval from the PM’s Office).

Former leaders are always in a somewhat ambiguous position, given the levels of paranoia that characterise political parties. Shorten mostly stays within his ministerial guardrails, but inside those he determines his own tactics.

At the moment, as Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme, he is pulling out all stops to try to get his legislation to reform the scheme through parliament. Recently this included holding a news conference with Pauline Hanson.

Shorten won’t have another chance at leadership, but he has a legacy to protect and advance. The NDIS grew out of his idea. It’s important to the government generally that the reforms are put on track before the election. It’s actually also in the Liberals’ long-term interests – it would be harder for a future Coalition government to rein in this scheme, which has run out of control.

Returning to the CFMEU, the week-long revelations have meant Labor has again found its post-July 1 “good news” on the cost of living totally overshadowed by domestic stories that are negative for it (never mind the drama in the United States). The first distraction, as the tax cuts were landing, was the resignation of Labor senator Fatima Payman from the party and speculation about whether a “Muslim vote” could harm Labor in western Sydney. Then came the union stories.

Labor will hope its quick response on the CFMEU issue will mean that in voterland it washes over fairly quickly.

Many people, one would expect, will be highly cynical about the reaction of political and union leaders who declare the revelations about criminality have come as “a shock”. While the extent and details may have surprised and appalled, the atrocious conduct of the construction union has been common knowledge.

The public would likely think the politicians protest too much. People’s general scepticism about their representatives was again highlighted by this week’s Essential poll that found three quarters of Australians think politicians enter into politics to serve their own interests.

It will take years to know whether industrial conduct in the construction industry can really be reformed. The deregistration of the Builders Labourers Federation in the 1980s failed to do the job.

The CFMEU’s Queensland/Northern Territory secretary, Michael Ravbar, a one-time member of the ALP national executive, flagged in a defiant statement that change will be fought by some. “Albanese has panicked and soiled himself over some unproven allegations in the media,” he said. “These gutless Labor politicians talk tough about affiliation fees and donations because that’s the only language they understand – money. The CFMEU is an industrial union, not a political outfit. Our strength has always come from our members on the shop floor, not from ladder-climbing politicians in the halls of power.”

After the ACTU suspended the construction division on Wednesday, ACTU staff were told to work from home as “a health and safety” measure. The CFMEU generates a level of fear in all sorts of places.

No doubt the administrators will clean out the union. But you’d be an optimist to feel confident that one collection of bad applies won’t eventually be replaced by another. Finding a way to stop the tree being blighted by yet more rotten fruit may be beyond any administrator. At the very least, it will require more rigorous regular spraying and pruning than we’ve seen in the past.