Questions after Cook Government awarded $5m Motorplex contract to company linked to bikie Benjamin David Ortin

The Cook Government has been left red-faced after a company linked to a senior Coffin Cheater bikie won a $5 million tender to build a new drag strip at Perth Motorplex. The Motorplex job is the most recent deal in a string of taxpayer-funded contracts awarded to Eastside Concrete, a successful and respected company backed by heavyweight Coffin Cheater Benjamin David Ortin. Mr Ortin was for years a director of Eastside’s parent company, Nitro Works, which remains registered at a Gidgegannup property the 47-year-old owns with Julianne Kathleen Mackey. Ms Mackey is a current director of Nitro Works, alongside Jesse-Jade Ortin. As well as his interest in Eastside Concrete, Mr Ortin holds shares in CC Promotions, which is registered at the Coffin Cheaters clubhouse in Bayswater. CC Promotions has housed the club’s business interests since the Cheaters put on the first Bindoon Rock festival in 1986. Over the past two decades, Eastside Concrete has grown into a wildly successful diversified business. As well as traditional concreting services and products, Eastside has a machinery and earthworks business and is involved in steel fabrication, welding, roofing and fencing. “During our years of operation we have developed a loyal client base which is just as diverse as the services we offer, including shires, mining companies, builders, developers, landscapers, commercial and industrial companies and householders,” Eastside’s website states. The company says it has delivered services for BHP and worked for the Federal Government’s Building the Education Revolution infrastructure project. In 2020, Eastside was awarded a $4.7 million contract to build footpaths in the City of Swan and the company has bid for million-dollar contracts in the cities of Vincent and Gosnells. The WA Government is now scrambling to work out how millions of taxpayer dollars is going into the pockets of a company associated with an outlaw motorcycle gang member. Sport and Recreation Minister Rita Saffioti palmed off questions about the contract to VenuesWest, which manages Government-owned sports and events venues. “As part of our procurement process, successful tenderers must declare that their senior officers have not been convicted of a criminal offense or involved with criminal organisations,” a VenuesWest spokesperson said. “VenuesWest had no information to suggest that an individual from the successful tenderer may have links to criminal organisations. The matter is being investigated, and further comment is not appropriate at this time.” The Motorplex contract is one of Eastside’s highest-profile jobs and the venue is well known to Mr Ortin. The Kwinana complex has a storied history with WA’s underworld, most notoriously because of the 2020 assassination of Rebels chief Nick Martin. In 2010 the Coffin Cheaters clashed with the Finks in a bloody track-side fight which left one Fink nursing a bullet wound and another looking for three fingers that had been cut off. Mr Ortin was involved in that fight, which was triggered by the Finks decision to patch up exiled Cheater Troy Mercanti. Detectives enlisted the Corruption and Crime Commission to try to break the bikie code of silence which was impeding the investigation. Mr Ortin was hauled into the CCC’s so-called star chamber to answer questions and when he refused to talk he was charged with “failing to answer truthfully a question relevant to an investigation”. The case against Mr Ortin and fellow Cheater David Jon Reid was later dropped. In 2001, when Mr Ortin was on better terms with Mercanti, the pair got in a fight with two off-duty police officers at Fremantle’s Metropolis nightclub. Mr Ortin’s lawyer described his client as a “big inoffensive fellow” who had punched one of the police officers in the face because the officer had previously assaulted him. The trial was discontinued after prosecutors found it was not in the public interest to continue. Eastside will work with specialist engineering firm Peritas when it starts work at the Motorplex next month. “A new drag strip at Perth Motorplex has been given the green light, with the successful tenderer awarded the contract to construct the $4.97m project in time for the start of the 2026-27 drag racing season,” Perth Motorplex announced on Tuesday. “Thanks to a $4.97m investment from the WA Government, local contractor Nitro Works Pty Ltd t/a Eastside Concrete will commence construction in January to deliver a replacement that ensures Perth Motorplex remains a premier destination for motorsport in the State.” Mr Ortin last year attracted the attention of the State Opposition, which quizzed the Government about tenders won by the beefy bikie since 2021. “The Department of Finance has not awarded a contract of any value to the companies in question during the specified period,” Finance Minister David Michael said at the time.