Loading The Morrison government is also using Mr Setka's domestic violence conviction as an example of why legislation is needed to more easily deregister rogue unions and move against officials. There is no suggestion that Mr Setka is involved in Mr Christopher's alleged criminal offending. The pair are close friends and allies, and Mr Christopher’s wife has also been employed at the union, while his father-in-law, shop steward Frank Prevolsek, is also a confidant of Mr Setka. In a statement, Mr Setka said that, "like any member of the public, Mr Christopher has the right to the presumption of innocence".

He said Mr Christopher had offered to assist police with their enquiry on numerous occasions and had offered to visit a police station if required. "We completely fail to understand the excessive use of force displayed by multiple heavily armed police wearing balaclavas and carrying automatic weapons while raiding not only Derek’s home, but also other family members' homes," Mr Setka's statement said. "The actions of the police have unnecessarily traumatised the family, including a number of young children. Having experienced first-hand the trauma inflicted on my family through the use of excessive force, these actions are completely unwarranted. This is something no family should ever experience.” Mr Christopher has recently been on extended "stress" leave from work, union sources said. Raids in Melbourne's north-west: 'He won't be happy about the grass'

A police spokeswoman told The Age on Friday that state and federal police had made several arrests during the morning, having previously “interviewed six men and one woman as part of this investigation”. “They were interviewed in relation to the offence of receipt/solicitation of a secret commission and are expected to be charged on summons,” she said. A police officer and sniffer dog inspect a car at Mr Christopher's Keilor Lodge home on Friday morning. Credit:Joe Armao Police also confirmed they had raided addresses across Victoria on Friday morning as “part of a 13-month investigation into individuals within the construction/building industry and the alleged provision of materials and labour in exchange for favouring contractors”. Arrests and raids by police were carried out by detectives on Friday morning at Keilor Lodge and Keilor, with police seizing computers, mobile phones and paperwork.

More than a dozen police officers descended on Mr Christopher’s Keilor Lodge home in the pre-dawn raids. A man paces outside the Keilor Lodge home as police raid the property. Credit:Joe Armao Specialist police dogs could be seen sniffing around a grey 4WD parked outside the home and a dark-coloured van parked in the recently renovated garage. Four heavily armed police also remain stationed outside the home. One man, dressed in CFMMEU clothing sporting the tag "Crane Crew", was pacing across the front lawn of the Keilor Lodge property. He declined to speak to the media when asked.

The recently renovated home is the most modern in the street with a new roof, guttering, facade, and double garage. Online images of the home from 2014 show an unrecognisable brick facade, matching others in the street, and no attached garage. Now, CCTV cameras are attached to the front of the property along with a newly established front garden with trees and shrubs so recently planted that tags are still attached. One woman, who arrived at the Keilor Lodge home shortly before 8am, told the police who were parked on the front lawn: “He won’t be happy about the grass”.

During raid on a second property, this one in the neigbouring suburb of Keilor, detectives seized a number of items, including a computer. One man who left the Keilor property shortly before 11.30am refused to comment. CFMMEU faces crisis on many fronts In happier times: CFMEU executive team Derek Christopher, Shaun Reardon, Elias Spernovasilis and John Setka in October last year. Credit:www.cfmeuvic.com.au The federal government, led by industrial relations minister Christian Porter, has launched a political assault on the CFMMEU as it seeks to push through new fit and proper person laws for union officials. In June 2018, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald revealed that detectives from a joint federal and state police taskforce had conducted raids on building contractors. It's alleged they worked on the Keilor Lodge home of Mr Christopher.

Major builder Probuild – which has a number of big projects in Victoria underway including an expansion of the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre – has previously confirmed the company was "co-operating with Victoria Police". Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Mr Christopher’s home was purchased in January 2017 for $670,000. Renovations over the past year are estimated to be worth several hundred thousand dollars. The diversion of labour and materials from commercial building sites to private homes is a timeless suspected rort in the building industry carried out by a small number of employers and employees alike. A source with knowledge of what police had sought from building firms said detectives were interested in rosters from commercial building sites, presumably to see if contractors working at Mr Christopher's house were at the same time being paid by their regular employer.

Loading Prosecution is rarely easy, given the difficulty in proving if the goods or labour were paid for, and the work done legitimately. Former Builders Labourers Federation leader Norm Gallagher was jailed over similar offences in the 1980s. Last year, the union's Victorian construction division attacked the police investigation into Mr Christopher as politically motivated. "The amount of time and effort this Liberal government spends on targeting, harassing and intimidating union officials and their families is not only pathetic but corrupt,’’ a spokesman said. A separate police case against Mr Setka and former CFMMEU assistant secretary Shaun Reardon over allegations the pair blackmailed concrete firm Boral was dramatically withdrawn last year. That case led to Mr Setka and Mr Reardon presenting a united front to attack the Victoria Police and Coalition.