CFMEU-owned Eureka Lawyers donated $20,000 to WA Labor months after Premier’s pledge

WA Labor received a $20,000 donation from a law firm owned by the CFMEU WA in late 2024, but the party has denied the cheque was at odds with Roger Cook’s previous pledge not to accept money from the embattled union. Eureka Lawyers donated a total of $23,300 to Labor in 2024, made public in last week’s release of campaign and political donation returns for 2024-25 by the AEC. The bulk of the funds were donated on November 27, three months after the Premier promised his party would not take any money from the CFMEU after it was ordered into administration over allegations of bikie infiltration interstate. According to financial documents obtained by The West, the CFMEU owns all shares in Eureka Lawyers. The firm’s office is situated next door to the CFMEU’s WA headquarters, and the union promotes the lawyers on its website and social media, describing them as partners in one Facebook video. The two organisations were also linked in a Labor member’s speech in Parliament. Midland MP Steve Catania — a former lawyer with both the union and law firm — gave mention to them in his inaugural speech in April last year. “I am proud of my time as a lawyer at the CFMEU in WA and at Eureka Lawyers. I am proud to have fought quietly and fiercely every day for safer and fairer outcomes for workers,” he said. He also gave a shout out to Eureka Lawyers director Alex Illich and CFMEU WA state secretary Mick Buchan, thanking them for letting him be “part of the fight”. Despite the links, WA Labor State Secretary Mark Reed said the law firm was a “separate legal entity” to the union and therefore any donations weren’t in breach of the Premier’s promise to cut financial ties with the CFMEU. “Eureka Lawyers is a successful law firm in its own right, which services most unions in WA, and is a separate legal entity with its own revenue streams,” he said. “No director of Eureka Lawyers is an official of the CFMEU. “WA Labor has received no donations from the CFMEU since the Premier’s announcement.” Mr Illich said the CFMEU had no control or oversight of the law firm. “Eureka Lawyers is proud of its position as the largest labour law firm in WA. We represent members of the public, and a range of unions,” he said. “Eureka is governed by its own independent board - the CFMEU has no control or oversight of Eureka. No officials of the CFMEU are Directors of Eureka. “Eureka represents clients who are injured at work, suffering from asbestos diseases, and in other areas of the law. Eureka has made submissions to Governments of the day regarding proposed changes to legislation, and will continue to do so.” A spokesperson for the Cook Government denied responsibility for donations to its own political party. “Donations are a matter for WA Labor, but the party has not accepted any donations from the CFMEU following the Premier’s August 2024 decision to stop accepting donations from that organisation,” they said. It comes as the administrator of the CFMEU’s Victorian branch is under scrutiny for ordering the removal of damning sections of a report into the union branch. It was revealed on Wednesday administrator Mark Irving ordered barrister Geoffrey Watson to remove sections which included “serious allegations of criminal and improper conduct”. Mr Irving said the sections — which asserted the union’s actions resulted in an extra $15 billion price tag for taxpayers and that Victorian Labor turned a blind eye to the union’s wrongdoings — were untested. WA Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas called on the State Government to be more transparent on their relationship to the CFMEU. “The Cook Labor Government is far too cosy with the CFMEU in Western Australia and Premier Roger Cook has continually stood by them,” he said. He said the Government had refused to answer questions on whether the Premier or his staff had met with CFMEU officials.