{"id":80809,"date":"2026-08-26T11:15:25","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T11:15:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/80809\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T11:15:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T11:15:25","slug":"cfmeu-administrator-says-union-had-no-choice-but-to-work-with-companies-linked-to-organised-crime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/80809\/","title":{"rendered":"CFMEU administrator says union had ‘no choice’ but to work with companies linked to organised crime"},"content":{"rendered":"

The CFMEU has “no choice” but to engage with companies linked to organised crime to protect its members, the union’s former administrator has told a Queensland commission of inquiry.<\/p>\n

Mark Irving KC was appointed to oversee the CFMEU’s construction divisions nationally in 2024, during which he commissioned multiple investigations and removed hundreds of members and officials from their positions.<\/p>\n

The scandal-plagued union was placed into administration by the Albanese government following revelations of widespread corruption, criminality and violence.<\/p>\n

Mr Irving stepped down in May, saying the administration was entering a “new rebuilding phase”, with New South Wales union executive Michael Crosby taking over the role<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Mr Irving stepped down from the role as administrator in May. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

He returned to Queensland’s inquiry into alleged union misconduct for a second time and was questioned over issues including the union’s finances, hostile youth faction and organised crime links.<\/p>\n

The inquiry heard the CFMEU entered an enterprise agreement last month with Victorian company Form Solutions Australia, which counsel assisting Patrick Wheelahan KC said was associated with Comanchero member, Bemir Saracevic.<\/p>\n

“That’s highly problematic isn’t it? That as recently as 24 July 2026, the CFMEU is still making an enterprise agreement with a company allegedly controlled by an outlaw motorcycle gang?” Mr Wheelahan asked.<\/p>\n

Mr Irving said he had previously asked the Australian Federal Police [AFP] to provide information that could help weed out bikie influence within the union.<\/p>\n

\"Men<\/p>\n

The CFMEU inquiry has heard men linked to a bikie gang approached a worker at a Centenary Bridge site in 2024. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

“We do not want to engage with organised crime, we do not want outlaw motorcycle gangs to have roles as employers within this industry, but we do not know who they are,” Mr Irving said.<\/p>\n

“There are approximately 30 to 40 outlaw motorcycle gangs in Australia, they have a list of members \u2026 the list \u2026 is not publicly available, it is kept by the AFP, by police forces.”<\/p>\n

“The CFMEU is not an organisation that has a body of 20 people keeping track of who is involved in the organised crime space \u2026 that is not the CFMEU’s job,” he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Irving said refusing to engage with major employers with suspected criminal links risked leaving workers without union representation.<\/p>\n

“The CFMEU has to protect its members. There are 20 to 30 \u2026 large construction companies in Australia, what do you do when one of them has engaged folk who are connected with organised crime?”<\/p>\n

\"Patrick<\/p>\n

Patrick Wheelahan speaking at the CFMEU Inquiry.\u00a0 (ABC News)<\/p>\n

“The question for the CFMEU in those circumstances is: When we know that they’re engaged in organised crime, or \u2026 they’ve got drug distribution networks \u2026 does the CFMEU then say, ‘we’re not going to represent our members?’ Workers in that part of industry are going to remain unregulated and unprotected. That’s a hard choice.”<\/p>\n

“If necessary, to represent our members, we’ve sat down and entered into enterprise agreements with these people because otherwise they become black sites.”<\/p>\n

“We’ve got no choice other than to engage with them,” he said, adding that it was clearly a “problematic” practice.<\/p>\n

Mr Irving strongly rejected suggestions the union remains “in bed with” organised crime as “wildly incorrect” and “false”.<\/p>\n

Ravbar and Ingham remain CFMEU members<\/p>\n

During his first appearance at the inquiry last November, Mr Irving revealed plans to permanently terminate the memberships of ousted state secretary Michael Ravbar and deputy state secretary Jade Ingham, who he claimed ran the union as their own personal “kingdom”.<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr Irving confirmed both men are still officially on the books.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Former CFMEU National President Jade Ingham is still a member of the union.<\/p>\n

He also defended his decision not to disband the union’s hostile youth faction known as the “youth crew” despite claims it operated as a “hit squad”.<\/p>\n

The informal CFMEU sub-branch has been accused of using intimidation and aggressive tactics against rival union, the Australian Workers Union [AWU].<\/p>\n

Mr Irving said he had considered winding up the group but ultimately opted against it, telling the hearing he believed it could instead be used as an “instrument for change” and help reshape the culture among younger members.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The CFMEU has “no choice” but to engage with companies linked to organised crime to protect its members,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":80810,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[103,22,21,110886,1003,1010,3225,1005,126682,3224,4101,211,212],"class_list":["post-80809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-afp","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-bemir-saracevic","tag-cfmeu","tag-inquiry","tag-jade-ingham","tag-mark-irving","tag-michael-crobsy","tag-michael-ravbar","tag-motorcycle-gangs","tag-qld","tag-queensland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}