The Master Builders Association has stopped short of calling for the deregistration of the CFMEU and instead demanded a new industry regulator with broad powers to enforce compliance with civil and criminal law as a long-term solution to cleaning up the sector.

MBA chief executive officer Denita Wawn put the proposal directly to Industrial Relations Minister Murray Watt at a meeting on Wednesday afternoon, just hours after Senator Watt dismissed an attempt by the CFMEU’s national secretariat to ward off external intervention by enlisting Geoffrey Watson, SC, to lead an internal review.