politics
CFMEU-backed plastering firm with bikie links won prison and housing contracts
A company part-owned by two brothers with criminal records and bikie connections secured subcontracts on a Victorian prison expansion and a social housing project. The firm gained CFMEU endorsement shortly after entering the plastering sector in 2023.
Jul 15, 3:00 PM·1m read1 source
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A plastering company part-owned by two brothers with criminal records and bikie connections secured subcontracts on a state-funded prison expansion and a social housing project in Victoria. The company, Multitude Plaster Commercial, won work on the $94 million expansion of Hopkins Correctional Centre in Ararat and on the $44 million St Andrews social housing project in Bendigo.
The project in Ararat forms part of an $810 million program to add 616 beds across five prisons. The two brothers entered the plastering sector in 2023 through BB Construction Investments, which became part-owners of Multitude Plaster Commercial. One month later the firm obtained a union-endorsed Enterprise Bargaining Agreement from the CFMEU.
Criminal records and business ties One brother pleaded guilty in 2015 to aggravated burglary and intentionally causing injury and served 18 months in jail. The other brother was convicted in 2022 of recklessly causing injury and received an adjourned undertaking in 2021 after police found cocaine, cannabis, human growth hormone and knuckledusters during a raid.
The brothers also manage the Hex Fight Series mixed martial arts competition, originally founded by a convicted drug trafficker. Sponsors of the event have included three companies linked to the Big Build program that also have gangland connections.
Union role and project status A CFMEU organiser who attends Hex Fight Series events promoted the plastering firm to other companies, according to four sources who had direct dealings with the organiser or the brothers. The organiser and the brothers could not be reached for comment.
The principal contractor on the Ararat prison project declined to comment and referred questions to the state government. A government spokesperson said the appointment of subcontractors is a matter for the head contractor. The Ararat project and several other prison expansions have stalled because of defects in prefabricated modular cells.
