CFMEU paid $40 million-$50 million into the wrong account, corruption inquiry told

Around $40 million to $50 million of CFMEU members’ dues were paid to the wrong part of the union, breaking union rules, industrial relations law and depriving the workers of the right to vote in union elections, CFMEU administrator Mark Irving KC told a corruption inquiry today.

The misdirection of the money may have been designed to protect the leaders of the CFMEU’s Queensland construction division from interference by their Federal counterparts, Mr Irving told the inquiry being conducted by barrister Stuart Wood KC in Brisbane today.

After previously watching dramatic footage of violence on Queensland building sites, the inquiry shifted on its third day to financial irregularities in the union, which was placed under the control of Mr Irving in 2024 by the Federal Labor government.

Mr Irving portrayed the CFMEU as Australia’s most lawless union, and said it had been found to have broken the law 1163 times between 2019 and 2024, while other unions had few or no convictions. He blamed the union’s problems in Queensland on former State secretary Michael Ravbar and deputy Jade Ingham, who he removed from their jobs.

‘Violence, not organised crime’

Unlike the union’s leaders in Victoria, who used criminals and motorcycle gangs to take control of building sites, Mr Irving said, the Queenslanders did not need outside help because they had controlled the division for 15 years “unhindered by the laws of society and the laws of civil society” without facing an election.

“The cancer in Queensland was violence, it wasn’t organised crime,” Mr Irving told the inquiry. “Ravbar and Ingham ran the Queensland branch as their own fiefdom.”

Mr Irving said he was considering expelling the two men and recommending legal action against them. Neither has been charged or had an opportunity to defend themselves to the inquiry, although have hired lawyers to attend each day. They are expected to be compelled to give evidence next year in what could be the inquiry’s climax.

The inquiry was initiated by Queensland’s Liberal-National government to clean out corruption in the building industry before big construction projects start for the 2032 Olympic Games.

Workplace agreements doubt

Under a complicated legal structure that created two Queensland branches, $10m of members’ dues each year was paid to an entity out of the control of the national division.

As a consequence the only construction workers considered paid-up members, and entitled to vote in union elections, were 163 members in the Northern Territory, Mr Irving said. The inquiry is considering if this could mean industrial agreements struck on behalf of Queensland members were legally valid.

In the 24 hours before Mr Irving took over, $3m was transferred from the union’s accounts, he said. Fearing the money would disappear or be used to campaign against the administration, Mr Irving was able to get the money back.

On Wednesday corruption investigator Geoffrey Watson told the inquiry the union had reached an agreement with the police union that the police would not get involved in workplace disputes, even if they descended into physical intimidation or violence.

The Queensland Police Association vehemently denied signing any such deal. “I find it offensive and outrageous any insinuation suggesting police who have sworn an oath to disrupt and stop criminal behaviour would not act where required by law and jeopardise their own integrity,” President Shane Prior said.

Contacted Thursday morning about Mr Prior’s statement, Mr Watson declined to comment.