The Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU) and three of its officials have been hit with a $247,540 penalty for unlawful and “thuggish” conduct at an Adelaide construction site.

The recent Federal Court ruling followed legal action initiated by the now abolished Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) and transferred to the Fair Work Ombudsman – and comes amid current media coverage of allegations of widespread CFMEU criminal behaviour, bullying and intimidation.

Penalties of $213,840 against the CFMEU, $18,900 against Wyatt Raymount, $7,200 against Travis Brook and $7,600 against Desmond Savage were imposed in the South Australian case.

Only Mr Brook remains a CFMEU official.

The trio, and through them the CFMEU, admitted breaching the Fair Work Act by acting in an improper manner in 2021 at the Yatala Labour Prison upgrade project in Northfield, Adelaide.

The unlawful conduct across three days in August-September included Mr Brook and Mr Raymount entering an exclusion zone and Mr Raymount making abusive statements and swearing at representatives of the site operator.

Mr Savage took adverse action against a site safety manager by positioning himself in a threatening manner and stating to the manager words to the effect of, “The more you call your [ABCC] mates, the more I’ll come down on you”.

Justice Patrick O’Sullivan described Mr Raymond’s statements as “direct, forceful and personal verbal abuse” and found the entry by Mr Raymount and Mr Brook into the exclusion zone was “at best irresponsible and at worst demonstrates a complete disregard for not only the safety of Mr Raymount and Mr Brook, but also the safety of others who, I infer, are likely to have been distracted from their work because of the unauthorised and unexpected entry into the exclusion zone of others.”

Justice O’Sullivan found Mr Savage had engaged in “physically threatening behaviour” that was “intended to intimidate” and could “only be described as thuggish”.

His Honour found that there was a need to impose penalties to deter similar future conduct.

Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth said the court penalties affirmed the seriousness of permit holders breaching the law.

“There is no place for threatening behaviour, adverse action or improper conduct by permit holders on any worksite,” Ms Booth said.

“Improving compliance across the building and construction industry is a priority for the Fair Work Ombudsman, and we will investigate reports of non-compliance and hold to account those who act outside the law.”

The Fair Work Ombudsman has now secured total penalties of more than $3 million in court cases that have been finalised since transferred from the ABCC in December 2022.

Meanwhile, the Victorian branch of the CFMEU has been placed in administration as pressure builds on the Albanese Government to deregister the union and establish a royal commission into its alleged systemic criminal activity.