If only feigning shock could restore order to the nation’s building sites. If that were the case then the procession of supposedly gobsmacked Labor politicians responding to The Age’s recent investigation, with The Australian Financial Review and 60 Minutes, would have ensured peace across billions of dollars of public spending and the workplaces of countless Australians.

The Labor politicians, together with leading unionists, have emphasised their surprise at the presence of organised crime figures and men with strong links to bikie gangs on building sites. This was no doubt alarming to the public, and the extent to which it was unknown to those who should have known will be a matter of some dispute.

Police officers monitor a protest outside by construction workers outside Melbourne’s CFMEU office in 2021.Credit: Getty

Days before our investigation broke, the federal opposition was already concerned enough to propose an amendment in parliament that would have prevented a person with more than 10 criminal offences from being an officer in a registered organisation like a union.

It cited the CFMEU’s conduct as its major justification. The government barely acknowledged the Coalition’s idea, but it is one The Age would suggest warrants consideration.

As bad as the problem is, this emphasis on........

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