Matt Johnston: High Court decision unties hands of man tasked with CFMEU clean up

The man tasked with cleaning up the rotten CFMEU has had a major win in the High Court but both state and federal governments need to step up their efforts — here’s what they can do.

CFMEU administrator Mark Irving holds a figurative broom that is sweeping violent and underworld figures from the construction sector.

He was brought in to clean up the militant union because it had been infiltrated by criminals and former officials had, in the words of his investigators, “lost control”.

But for the past few months, Irving has effectively had one arm tied behind his back, meaning the sweeping motion has been rather more gentle than he would have wanted.

This is because disgruntled former union officials and their industry comrades had launched a High Court challenge to his validity.

While the challenge was a long shot, it tied up Irving because if he went hard and made serious changes to how the union and work sites were run, it could lead to serious problems if the High Court scuttled the administration.

Mark Irving has scored a major win the High Court. Picture: Alex Coppel

Major construction companies, who control multi-billion dollar contracts, were also playing ‘wait and see’.

They considered that if they took stronger action against unreasonable site demands, such as for only CFMEU-preferred suppliers to be used, they risked losing millions if those aligned with former officials shut them down under the cover of the High Court.

Now, Irving’s arm has been untied – or at least, the bonds loosened.

The High Court has said that Irving was appointed properly by the Albanese government, and can go about his work.

Does this matter in the minds of the ex-CFMEU officials who let bikies into their organisation and did deals with underworld figures that allowed their companies to gain workplace agreements with a union?

No, based on previous form.

They will try to rev up members to walk off the job, although workers won’t like the prospect of losing pay if it is unprotected action.

Those in aligned unions, who turned a blind eye to the dodgy deals their buddies were doing in the pursuit of more power, will probably follow suit.

CFMEU are represented in the Toowoomba Labour Day March, Saturday, May 3, 2025. Picture: Kevin Farmer

So what does the administrator need to become unshackled and grasp the broom with both hands?

Proper support from governments, for a start.

Governments could insist, for example, that the efforts companies make to clean up backyards – such as by stopping the practice of industrial coercion used by the CFMEU to favour their mates – will be taken into account for future tenders.

In that way, if some of those firms take a haircut from frivolous shutdowns, they can make it up in the long run through other projects.

There also needs to be a better mechanism for investigating egregious abuses on site, especially if organisers continue to use threats and intimidation to get their way.

This needs a united approach from industry and government, which has for too long effectively sided with the CFMEU or shrugged its shoulders at its behaviour.

It doesn’t mean turning a blind eye to safety or nobbling the union’s capacity to support workers, which Mr Irving is not there to do.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese recently announced a roundtable to boost economic growth and productivity.

The construction sector is worth hundreds of billions of dollars and is a key pillar of the economy.

Supporting the work of the administrator and properly cleaning up the sector would be a good place to start to drive productivity – but it will be a bumpy road.

Originally published as Matt Johnston: High Court decision unties hands of man tasked with CFMEU clean up