September 24, 2026 — 11:23am

Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt has been appointed Victoria’s Labour Hire Authority commissioner, with a plan to crack down on the infiltration of organised crime on the state’s construction industry.

Gatt announced his resignation to Police Association members on Thursday morning, just as the final release of crime statistics before November’s state election revealed offending in Victoria had fallen from record highs, but remains elevated.

Gatt departs after almost a decade in the role and 31 years in policing.

A government source, not authorised to speak on the appointment, said the way Gatt fought for wages and conditions for police and protective service officers over two enterprise bargaining agreements made him a good fit for the job of protecting workers’ rights.

They said Gatt was chosen because of his police and industrial relations background to take an even more aggressive approach.

The Labour Hire Authority (LHA) was established in 2019 to license employee labour providers, but has failed to stop career criminals dominating sectors of the industry.

Gatt replaces Steve Dargavel as commissioner, who has been leading the clean-up of Victoria’s scandal-ridden construction sector.

Since its inception, the LHA has received almost 12,000 labour hire licence applications, refusing more than 500, cancelling over 1000 and issuing almost $4 million in financial penalties.

Investigations by this masthead have laid bare the suspected infiltration by organised crime figures and corrupt CFMEU officials in the operations of labour hire companies turning over hundreds of millions of dollars on the state government’s Big Build projects.

Over the past 12 months, the commission has sought to shut down several firms accused of wrongdoing, which sparked fierce legal challenges from the companies but won the private praise of police agencies separately combating crime in the construction sector.

A strong advocate for increased police numbers, a greater visible police presence, tougher bail laws and strong enforcement powers, the move means Gatt will not be part of any criminal justice system debates in the run-up to November’s election.

Crime Statistics Agency (CSA) data released on Thursday showed the rate of criminal incidents recorded in Victoria last financial year dropped by 4.6 per cent to 6504.2 incidents per 100,000 people.

Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Bob Hill welcomed the “marginal” fall and said Thursday’s statistics revealed the number of recidivist child offenders had decreased for the first time.

But a police statement warned: “Crime levels remain unacceptably high and continue to sit above historical norms.”

Police revealed they arrested 27,092 people a combined 77,175 times last financial year.

“The drivers of our crime include mental health, repeat offending, organised crime and illicit drugs, enabled through the use of technology,” Hill said.

“During this period, what is pleasing is to see the significant reductions in serious and violent crime.”

CSA chief statistician Fiona Dowsley said a fall in property crime – including a 20 per cent drop in burglary and break-and-enter offences – was the main driver of the overall decrease.

“We reached the peak of this current cycle around about January 2025, and we’ve been on a slow, gentle decline from there since,” she told ABC radio.

The number of shoplifting offences, however, increased another 2.7 per cent last financial year.

Dowsley said offenders aged in their 30s had driven the increase, alongside spikes in “small pockets” such as the City of Port Phillip, which she said accounted for half the increase in retail theft last financial year.

Hill challenged the suggestion that the cost-of-living crunch had led to elevated shoplifting rates.

“Decent people don’t turn to crime to survive,” he said, adding that many people arrested in shops had prior convictions.

Hill was unaware about Gatt’s departure from the police union when asked on Thursday, but wished him well at the Labour Hire Authority.

Gatt said he had considered leaving near the end of his second term as secretary as he felt the union was strong and stable enough to transition to a new leader.

“I subsequently applied for this new role, and I am honoured to be appointed,” he said in a statement.

“It feels like a natural next step following a policing career that involved significant time protecting and advocating for working people.”

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