The placement of the Construction Forestry Maritime Employees Union into administration in 2024 was the most consequential change to the Australian construction-sector industrial-relations framework in a generation. For a Victorian newsroom watching the Big Build, the administration is not a side-story. It is central. Our police-rounds reporter, Jack Renton, has been tracking the administrator’s published findings since the appointment.
This piece is a 2024–2026 timeline of the administration as it has unfolded, what the administrator has actually said in published findings, and what has changed on Victorian construction sites as a result. It sticks to public material — the federal legislation, the administrator’s published reports, and matters in the public court record.
The Building Bad investigation
In July 2024, Nine Newspapers and the 60 Minutes program published a joint investigation under the title Building Bad. The investigation alleged that organised crime figures and convicted criminals had infiltrated the Construction and General Division of the CFMEU, particularly in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, and that those associations were translating into pressure on construction companies, on rival union officials, and on government infrastructure programs.
The reporting included documented links between named CFMEU officials and individuals with criminal histories. It also reported allegations of financial benefits flowing through the construction sector to organised-crime-linked entities. We do not republish the names of individuals who have been alleged to have engaged in conduct but who have not been the subject of court findings or statutory adverse findings.
The federal response
Within weeks of the Building Bad publications, the Fair Work Commission moved to apply for the appointment of an administrator over the Construction and General Division of the CFMEU. The federal government, led by the Albanese Labor government, brought forward legislation — the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Amendment (Administration) Bill 2024 — to streamline that process and to give the administrator broad powers.
The legislation enabled the appointment of a single administrator across the Construction and General Division for an initial three-year term, with the power to remove officials, audit financial records, restructure branches, and report publicly on findings. Mark Irving KC was appointed administrator. His office began publishing periodic reports from late 2024 onwards.
The administrator’s findings on suspect operators
The administrator’s published reports have detailed concerns about a number of officials and contractors. Where the administrator has made formal findings about an individual official, those findings have been published with names. Where matters have been referred to police or to the National Anti-Corruption Commission, the administrator has typically described the conduct without naming the subject pending the outcome of that referral.
The published findings to date describe:
- Officials who held positions in the union despite criminal histories that ought to have disqualified them under the union’s own rules.
- Patterns of intimidation directed at building-industry employers, sub-contractors and rival union officials.
- Contracting arrangements in which sub-contractors with links to organised-crime figures had been able to obtain work on major projects through informal pressure on head contractors.
- Financial irregularities in branch-level accounts, including expense claims that did not appear to relate to legitimate union activity.
The administrator has been clear that not every official identified in the reports has engaged in conduct that would amount to a criminal offence. Removal from office under the administration regime is an industrial-relations remedy, not a criminal sanction.
What has changed on Big Build sites
The Major Transport Infrastructure Authority and its delivery agencies have updated contractor-vetting requirements since the administration began. Public statements by the Victorian Government in 2024 and 2025 indicated that head contractors on Big Build projects were required to certify the integrity of their sub-contractor chains, with reference to the administrator’s published findings.
Our newsroom has not seen the contracting documents themselves. What we can observe from public information is that:
- Several sub-contractors that had previously held work on Big Build projects ceased operating on those sites during 2024 and 2025.
- The Victorian Government announced new probity requirements for head contractors, including obligations to disclose ultimate beneficial ownership of sub-contracting entities.
- The administrator’s office and the National Anti-Corruption Commission entered an information-sharing arrangement that has, on the public record, supported referrals in both directions.
What has not visibly changed is the underlying procurement model on the largest projects. Contracts continue to be let through Project Definition Plan processes that the Victorian Auditor-General has criticised in earlier reports.
The Australian Building and Construction Commission
The Australian Building and Construction Commission, known as the ABCC, was the federal agency that previously had a dedicated remit to police industrial conduct in the construction sector. The Albanese government abolished the ABCC in February 2023, transferring its remaining functions to the Fair Work Ombudsman.
Critics of that decision — including the Coalition opposition and parts of the construction industry — have argued that the ABCC’s abolition removed a key compliance check at exactly the moment that Building Bad later showed was most needed. Defenders of the decision have argued that the ABCC’s enforcement model had been ineffective at addressing the deeper integrity problems identified by Building Bad and that a more thorough administration regime was the correct response.
What is not in dispute is that there was a window between the ABCC’s abolition in early 2023 and the administration’s commencement in late 2024 during which neither agency was operating. The administrator’s published findings cover conduct that occurred during that period and earlier.
Where the timeline sits now
As of the date of this article, the administration is in its second full year. The administrator has published several major reports, removed a number of officials from office, and made multiple referrals to police and to the National Anti-Corruption Commission. None of the criminal matters arising from those referrals has yet reached final determination, and we will not name individuals who have been the subject of allegations but not court findings.
The administration is scheduled to continue until at least 2027. The Victorian construction sector — and by extension the Big Build — will be operating under that framework for at least another year.
What we are watching
Our newsroom is tracking three threads. First, the published reports of the administrator. Second, criminal proceedings flowing from referrals — these are court matters and will be reported in our Courts coverage when they reach hearing. Third, the procurement and contracting reforms announced by the Victorian Government, and whether the Auditor-General’s office reports favourably on their implementation.
If you have a concern about conduct on a construction site that you believe amounts to a criminal offence, the appropriate channel is Victoria Police or, for organised-crime intelligence, Crime Stoppers Victoria on 1800 333 000. For workplace safety matters, WorkSafe Victoria’s advisory line is 1800 136 089. For union-conduct matters, the administrator’s office publishes guidance on how to make a complaint or disclosure.
