Nick McKenzie

We know this because we've reported it now many times.

Gatto is on the payroll of many of the construction companies in Melbourne and some interstate.

I'm not saying it's unlawful.

That would be defamatory.

But I am saying anyone who's a little bit sceptical would wonder why anyone would need to pay a gangland figure to operate on a major construction site in Victoria.

Well, so Geoffrey Watson SC, corruption buster of some repute.

He used to be the council assisting at the New South Wales Anti-Corruption ICAC Commission.

He was hired by the CFMEU administrator to investigate corruption in the CFMEU.

And what Watson says in the recent commission of inquiry in Queensland, this is another inquiry looking at the CFMEU.

He says the Gatto business model, effectively Gatto is in cahoots with corrupt or dodgy CFMEU officials.

Gatto says to a company, you hire me and if there's a drama on a building site, I'll sort it out because I've got connections at the CFMEU.

Suddenly there's a drama on a building site and so suddenly Gatto's in great demand and a company will pay him, let's say, a million bucks to sort out those problems.

One of the problems, the union has come on the site, they've said it's unsafe, they've sent the men into the sheds, the work has stopped, it's costing the builder a fortune every day.

How bad did things get in Victoria?

The allegation that's been put up there by Geoffrey Watson in a Royal Commission-type setting, so it's protected from defamation, is it's all a set-up.

There's no real safety issue or problem.

Gatto engineers this issue with his mates in the union so he can cop and earn.

The builder's happy to pay.

They think they're getting a service.

They're not.