Evidence of bribery and links between the powerful construction union, bikies, organised crime and companies seeking work on large private and government building projects could not have come at a better time for the Abbott government.
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In opposition, the ghost of WorkChoices haunted the Coalition through the 2010 campaign. Heading into the 2013 campaign, Tony Abbott and his workplace minister, Eric Abetz, took a softly, softly approach when releasing their policy last May. The pair presented a small target to the Labor government and promised to return the industrial relations pendulum to the "sensible centre".
Abbott and Abetz launched what was, essentially, a two-term policy that emphasised productivity, flexibility, the creation of a Registered Organisations Commission to police union malfeasance and the restoration of the Howard-era Building and Construction Commission to monitor building sites.
Further changes were put off until after a Productivity Commission inquiry and the next election, due in 2016 election.
Since the election, Abetz has carefully rolled out the pre-election policy promises, introducing legislation late last year while attempting to build public support for the case to go further.
Tuesday's revelations are just the sort of evidence the government needs to build that public case.
Talk of a judicial inquiry into the Australian Workers Union Workplace Reform Association – the affair that so bedevilled Julia Gillard in office – and into corruption at the Health Services Union has morphed into an expectation the government will order a royal commission.
Abbott and, particularly, Abetz are careful to say that ordinary union officials who have done nothing wrong have nothing to fear from the new government.
And it's true the vast majority of union officials work to further the interests of the working people they represent, even as trade union membership has declined nationally to 13 per cent in the private sector and 43 per cent in the public sector.
But make no mistake. In tackling corruption that takes place in the CFMEU and other unions, the Coalition will also seek to extract maximum political advantage. Every amendment, every legislative change will be thrown back in Labor's face as evidence it is "soft" on corruption and beholden to the union movement.
It has not escaped the government's notice that unions donate millions to Labor – $4.7 million from 11 of the biggest unions in 2011-12, according to Electoral Commission disclosures, and $55.6 million since 2000-2001
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and his workplace spokesman, Brendan O'Connor, both have deep links and a strong loyalty to the union movement.
Shorten led the Australian Workers Union and was heavily backed, including by the CFMEU, in the recent Labor leadership contest. And before entering Parliament, O'Connor was assistant national secretary of the Australian Services Union and is the brother of CFMEU national secretary Michael O'Connor.
As the government moves to push through changes to the industrial relations system and to prepare the ground for further legislative changes beyond 2016, it will use Shorten, O'Connor and other frontbenchers' links to the union movement to wedge the opposition.
By targeting corruption in unions, such as that revealed in the CFMEU, the Coalition will achieve two dividends. It weakens the left flank of its political opponents and pleases business, one of its core constituencies.
All the while, it will argue the case for reform on credible law-and-order grounds – a case that will resonate with voters, as long as the Coalition does not overreach, which it as of yet shows no sign of doing.
