Ark Tribe (born circa 1962 - 18 May 2018) was an Australian construction worker and unionist who was prosecuted for refusing to attend a meeting with investigators from the

Australian Building and Construction Commission The Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) is an independent, statutory authority of the Australian Government, responsible for promoting understanding and enforcing workplace relations compliance in the Australian building and co ...

(ABCC) in 2008. He was acquitted on 24 November 2010, an event with significant political implications for Australian labour politics.

Background

Following the controversial

Royal Commission into the Building and Construction Industry The Royal Commission into the Building and Construction Industry, or informally the Cole Royal Commission, was a Royal Commission established by the Australian government to inquire into and report upon alleged misconduct in the building and co ...

(2001–2003), established by the Howard government, the ABCC was created in 2005, to regulate industrial relations in the Australian construction sector. Consequently, the activities of the

Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union The Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMMEU, though most commonly still referred to as CFMEU) is Australia's main trade union in construction, forestry, maritime, mining, energy, textile, clothing and footwear producti ...

(CFMEU), as well as other unions, were restricted more than unions in other industries. Critics alleged that the ABCC focussed exclusively on attacking workers and ignored violations of safety and non-payment of wages by employers. Construction workers alleged to have engaged in unauthorised union activities could be forced to attend meetings with ABCC investigators. Failure to cooperate was punishable by

jail A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...

terms of up to six months.

Prosecution

In 2008, Ark Tribe attended a safety meeting at a construction site at

Flinders University Flinders University is a public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia, with a footprint extending across 11 locations in South Australia and the Northern Territory. Founded in 1966, it was named in honour of British navigator ...

, in

Adelaide, South Australia Adelaide ( ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater A ...

. Workers at the meeting discussed ongoing safety concerns at the site and carried out a union investigation into conditions before resuming work. The ABCC afterward summoned Tribe to a meeting to determine the legality of their actions. When he refused to obey, prosecutors for the ABCC commenced legal proceedings against him. Steven Dolphin, the Principal of specialist industrial law firm Lieschke & Weatherill Lawyers, and prominent Adelaide silk Michael Abbott QC, represented Tribe throughout his lengthy court proceedings. The CFMEU and supporters turned out to protest at court proceedings, with hundreds present for the first day of his trial on 15 June 2010, including prominent international

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...

campaigners

Gerry Conlon Gerard Patrick "Gerry" Conlon (1 March 1954 – 21 June 2014) was an Irish man known for being one of the Guildford Four who spent 15 years in prison after being wrongly convicted of being a Provisional IRA bomber. Biography Gerard Conlon was ...

and

Paddy Hill The Birmingham Six were six Irishmen who were each sentenced to life imprisonment in 1975 following their Miscarriage of justice, false convictions for the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings. Their convictions were declared miscarriage of justice, un ...

. On 24 November 2010, Ark Tribe was cleared of the charges against him. The decision had political implications for the relationship between the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms the f ...

and the

union movement The Union Movement (UM) was a far-right political party founded in the United Kingdom by Oswald Mosley. Before the Second World War, Mosley's British Union of Fascists (BUF) had wanted to concentrate trade within the British Empire, but the Unio ...

, especially with regards to the latter's campaign to have the

abolished.

References

External links

Ark Tribe Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tribe, Ark Australian trade unionists 1960s births 2018 deaths