Third senior exit at CFMEU administration

The exit came as confidential documents show the union’s national office was in deficit and the SA branch insolvent.

CFMEU administrator Mark Irving KC. Picture: Alex Coppel

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Former KordaMentha partner Alison Currie has quit as chief of staff to CFMEU administrator Mark Irving, the third significant resignation in six months – as ­confidential documents show the union’s national office in deficit and the South Australian branch insolvent.

The exit of Ms Currie, who joined the administration last August, follows the resignations of Travis O’Brien, Mr Irving’s hand-picked choice to clean up the Queensland branch, and Grahame McCulloch, who quit as ­Victorian branch head after allegations he acted inappropriately towards female staff.

Internal financial documents seen by The Weekend Australian for the period from February to November last year report the construction division’s national office was making a loss of $1.1m compared to a budgeted $17,000 surplus.

The report by the union’s chief financial officer Hernal Patel said the loss was “primarily due to high legal costs, increase in consulting costs from administration and professional fees for Korda­Mentha”.

Mr Patel said the national office’s cash balance had fallen from $9.5m in 2023 to $1.5m last year, largely due to $5m being invested in share investments and a $3m loan to the union’s Queensland branch.

“The reduced cash balance may result in future cashflow issues should expenses remain unchanged,” he said. “While some costs are oncharged to branches, branches such as SA are unable to pay them, while ACT and WA branches have become selective on which invoices to pay.”

Confirming the financial difficulties faced by the SA branch, Mr Patel said the branch owed $140,000 to the Tax Office and $112,000 to the construction division’s national office.

He said the branch had a current liability of $1m and a working capital deficiency of $775,000.

“The financial figures suggest that (the) SA branch has going concern issues and will be unable to pay its debts as and when they fall due,” Mr Patel wrote. “If this was a corporation under the Corporations Act, the entity would be declared insolvent.”

He said to settle its debts, the branch would require financial support and a financial injection “to continue its operations solvently”.

In contrast, the Victorian branch had a cash balance of $47m and a surplus of $10m while NSW had a cash balance of $32m and a surplus of $4m. The WA and ACT branches were not paying their ­national levies.

A CFMEU administration spokesperson said Ms Currie had been asked to assist Mr Irving with the establishment of the administration and his office.

“She committed to the establishment phase, and as we move into the next phase of work, she is leaving the union with our gratitude for the contribution she made,” the spokesperson said.

Claiming the union was in a strong financial state, the spokesperson said Mr Patel’s report outlined the position for eight months and did not reflect the strength of the union’s position over the ­financial year.

The national office’s finances were impacted by an unexpected $3m loan to the Queensland branch for a strategic property investment. “The administration is incurring costs. Those costs have not yet been passed onto the branches where the costs will be offset by savings across the union and return of money improperly used by ex-officials of the union.”

The spokesperson claimed savings would be up to $5.5m this ­financial year, including $3.1m returned by lawyers representing ousted NSW officials Darren and Michael Greenfield.