Albanese government allocated almost $9m to defend CFMEU administrators, hearing told
Taxpayers have been forced to pay nearly $9 million for the personal protection of current and former executives of the powerful CFMEU amid allegations of death threats including from “organised crime elements”.
The Department for Education and Employment has been allocated $5.3 million over two years in the 2026-27 budget for “protective security services” for Michael Crosby, a Senate hearing was told on Tuesday.
Mr Crosby, a former NSW union official, was appointed administrator last month after the CFMEU was placed into administration in late 2024 amid allegations it had infiltrated organized crime.
Officials told Liberal Senator Jane Hume on Tuesday that her predecessor, Mark Irving, who served just 20 months in the job, had been allocated about $3.8 million in successive budgets for his own protection.
Environment Minister Murray Watt defended the spending, including that the costs were borne by taxpayers, not the CFMEU and its members.
“Our view as a government was that it was the right decision to require management costs to be paid by CFMEU members because… the directors are now de facto officers of that union,” he said.
“Given that Parliament created this management plan, the government had a responsibility to pay for the personal protection of the person taking on this role against threats from outside the union.”
Expanding on the issue further, Mr Watt said: “Should we be taxing all construction employers to contribute to the costs of maintaining the safety of someone who is cracking down on corruption involving some employers as well as some union officials?”
“Or should only workers cover it?”
The hearing was told the Australian Federal Police said the threats to Mr Irving’s life were made “by individuals who were not only credible but had the means and motivation to carry them out” and did not necessarily come from members of the CFMEU.
“In some cases these were carried out by organized crime elements outside the CFMEU membership,” an official said.
The hearing was told that as of March 31, the AFP had conducted three investigations into illegal behavior in the building and construction industry.
“They had certainly made some high-profile arrests as well,” one official said.
