Changing of CFMEU guard

Date: 20 October 2010

Mal Tulloch

A new generation of union leaders has taken charge at the NSW branch of the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy (Construction and General Division).

After 16 years as the State Secretary Andrew Ferguson has retired and Malcolm Tulloch has been elected to replace him.

Tulloch, who officially started as CFMEU State Secretary yesterday, is the first Indigenous person to hold the top job in Australia's largest building union.

Rebel Hanlon, 36, will move into Tulloch's previous role as Assistant State Secretary.

Tulloch, 48, a former Holroyd City Council mayor and trades person, traces his indigenous heritage through his paternal grandmother.

Tulloch said he was "honoured to be following a long line of great leaders of this building union".

The 48-year-old said his commitment to labour and indigenous policies complemented each other.

"Whether you are a building worker or part of your community, it is about a strong sense of social justice and it is about people being treated fairly and with dignity and respect," he said.

Tulloch and Hanlon were elected by the CFMEU Committee of Management with the decision endorsed by the union's delegates.

Hanlon is also Indigenous through his paternal side. His great-grandmother was an Aboriginal woman from Junee, NSW, in Wirradjurie country.

Hanlon said he was "blown away" by his election and hoped it would be an inspiration not just to young Indigenous people, but young people in general to become active in the union movement.

Ferguson, who has led the union since 1994, said Tulloch's election signalled a generational change at the union.

"It is also fitting that with Mal's appointment we are continuing the CFMEU tradition of making labour history by electing our first Indigenous leader," he says.