Source : Perth Now news
Taxpayers were forced to fork out almost $9m for the personal protection of the current and former administrators of the powerful CFMEU amid allegations of death threats, including from “organised crime elements”.
A Senate estimates hearing was told on Tuesday the Department of Education and Employment was allocated $5.3m over two years in the 2026-27 budget for “protective security services” for Michael Crosby.
Mr Crosby, a former NSW union official, was appointed as administrator of the CFMEU’ last month after it was placed in administration in late-2024 over allegations it had been infiltrated by organised crime.
His predecessor, Mark Irving, who served in the role for only about 20 months, was allocated about $3.8m over successive budgets for his own protection, officials told Liberal Senator Jane Hume on Tuesday.
Environment Minister Murray Watt defended the spending, including that the costs were borne not by the CFMEU and its membership, but by taxpayers.
“Our view as a government was that it was the right decision to require the costs of the administration to be paid for by CFMEU members, including because … the administrators are now effectively the officials of that union,” he said.
“Given the parliament had set up this administration scheme, there was a responsibility on government to pay for the personal protection of the person who took on that role from threats being made from outside the union.”
Pressed further, Mr Watt said: “Should we be levying all building employers to chip in for the costs of protecting the security of someone who’s breaking up the rort that was going on involving some employers as well as some union officials?”
“Or, should it only be borne by workers?”
The hearing was told Australian Federal Police had found threats against Mr Irving’s life were “not only credible, but by people with the means and the motive to carry them out”, not necessarily from CFMEU members.
“In some cases, they were made by organised crime elements outside the CFMEU membership,” an official said.
As of March 31, the AFP were undertaking three investigations in relation to unlawful conduct across the building and construction industry, the hearing was told.
“They had certainly made some high profile arrests as well,” an official said.
