Shane Dowling || Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has his fingerprints all over the $15 billion CFMEU corruption scandal in Victoria that has already spread to Queensland and will likely spread to other states.
On Wednesday (11/2/26) the SMH reported CFMEU administrator, Mark Irving, who was appointed by the Anthony Albanese federal government, was exposed during the week for removing chapters, critical of the Victorian Labor Party, in a corruption report that shows $15 billion was extorted from government projects by organised criminals linked to the CFMEU.
Victoria has a $100 billion Big Build project which is a multi-year investment on transport infrastructure with over 180 major road and rail projects.
“One of Watson’s key claims is that as a result of criminality, the cost of construction on Victorian projects grew by $15 billion, due to corrupt payments linked to the construction union.” (Click here to read more)
The CFMEU has a long history of donating $millions to the Labor Party so there should be an investigation for fraud, theft and money laundering by the Labor Party and the CFMEU as well as an investigation to where the $15 billion has gone.
The fact that Mark Irving tried to cover-up criticism of the Victorian Labor government in the report was no surprise to me, nor should be to regular readers of this website, as that is why he was appointed.
I published an article in August 2024 titled “Barrister Mark “charity shag” Irving KC appointed boss of the CFMEU and Bill Shorten’s crime gang charged over $24 million union fraud” and said:
Mark Irving KC was paid $millions when the HSU / HWU was up to its neck in corruption and the HSU / HWU are still up to their necks in corruption so Mark Irving KC is one of the last people you would want to run the CFMEU.
Everyone on all sides of politics had an opportunity to deal with the CFMEU and HSU / HWU after the Royal Commission, but no one did. Now it has come back to bite the Labor Party and Union movement less than 12 months out from a federal election. (Click here to read more)
Mark Irving KC was appointed by the federal government in August 2024 as CFMEU administrator because of media reports of corruption and Prime Minister Albanese had no choice but to act, otherwise it would have been a big issue at the 2025 federal election.
It raises the question, which needs to be investigated, who in the federal government directed and/or approved Mark Irving KC to remove the chapters critical of the Victorian Labor government and what else has Mark Irving KC covered up.
How the cover-up was exposed
Geoffrey Watson, SC was employed in July 2024 by new management at the CFMEU to investigate corruption in the Victorian CFMEU.
A month later, in August 2024, the federal government put the CFMEU into administration and appointed Mark Irving KC as national administrator of the CFMEU which meant Geoffrey Watson, SC was then reporting to Mark Irving KC.
Geoffrey Watson SC completed his CFMEU report in December 2025.
The Queensland LNP government set up a Royal Commission into the CFMEU in August 2025 which is still running and they requested a copy of Geoffrey Watson’s report into the CFMEU in Victoria.
The SMH reported on the 11/2/26:
An Albanese government-appointed official stripped politically explosive sections from a landmark corruption report, removing findings that Victoria’s Labor government turned a blind eye to CFMEU graft and organised crime on infrastructure projects, including federally funded sites, at a cost to taxpayers of $15 billion.
In an extraordinary development on Tuesday evening, after this masthead asked CFMEU administrator Mark Irving, KC, if he or his administration had whitewashed material damaging to Labor from the report, the senior barrister released the deleted chapters and criticised the corruption expert he hired to write them.
Irving’s decision to release the deleted material came after Queensland’s Commission of Inquiry moved this week to use its powers to discover the removed chapters of the report by anti-corruption expert Geoffrey Watson, SC, having been provided a different version of the “final” report last month.
In a two-line statement also sent late on Tuesday, Watson confirmed parts of the report detailing the findings of his 18-month probe into the CFMEU had been “removed”.
“I did not suggest the changes. I was directed to make the changes,” Watson said.
But a spokesperson for Irving said in a statement that “the administrator determined to remove the two sections … because he was not satisfied that they were well-founded or properly tested”.
Sources said the Queensland commission may have first twigged that the report it was handed in January was stripped of politically sensitive material because a summary included a dot point headed “governmental inaction on the CFMEU” but with no corresponding chapter or explanation. (Click here to read the full article)
When did Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan know?
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan says she knew nothing about the widespread corruption at the CFMEU and rorting on government projects until it hit the media 2024.
But CFMEU corruption has been in the media for years, including on this website, and we even had a Trade Union Royal Commission from 2014 to 2015 which exposed a lot of the corruption, but Jacinta Allen says she knew nothing until 2024.
Key parts that were deleted from the report were,
“As the guardian of public money, the government had a duty to know. It had a duty to monitor delays and costs blowouts. There is no doubt the government knew about the rising problem – but it is equally clear that the government did nothing about it,” it says.”
and: “Much of that $15 billion has been poured directly into the hands of criminals and organised crime gangs.”
That is why Premier Jacinta Allen says she knew nothing before 2024. Because $billions were stolen while she did nothing.
Queensland Royal Commission likely to expose $billions more rorted on the Labor Party’s watch
The Victorian CFMEU corruption / cover-up scandal will be huge leading up to the Victorian election, due in November 2026, if the opposition political parties can prosecute it properly in the media.
And then there is the Queensland Royal Commission into the CFMEU which is due to report by the 31st of July 2026 and that is bound to expose $billions more looted by criminals on the Labor Party’s watch.
The sad part is, if you want to know the full story of what is happening regarding corruption at the Victorian CFMEU you need to watch the Queensland Royal Commission into the CFMEU. That in itself needs a Royal Commission.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese appointed National Anti-Corruption Commissioner Paul Brereton to cover-up corruption at the NACC and Albanese also appointed Labor Party boy Mark Irving KC as administrator of the CFMEU to protect the Labor Party.
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