In August 2024, the federal government moved to place the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union under administration — an extraordinary step, reserved under the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act for situations where the regulator determines that a registered organisation has failed to properly manage its affairs. The Federal Court confirmed the appointment of an administrator, and the CFMEU — the country's most prominent construction union — began operating under external oversight.
The decision followed sustained scrutiny of the union's conduct, including findings and allegations documented through the Royal Commission into the Construction Industry, court proceedings, and media investigations. It was not a sudden development. It was the culmination of years of documented concern about governance, compliance, and conduct within parts of the organisation.
This piece is not about the politics. It is about what the administration means practically for construction businesses operating in Australia right now — and what it means for how workforce risk and compliance accountability are managed on site.
What administration actually means
When a registered organisation goes into administration under the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act, an independent administrator is appointed to take control of the organisation's affairs. Elected officials lose their authority to make decisions on behalf of the union. The administrator can restructure governance, remove officials, and oversee operations until the organisation is returned to member control or other action is taken by the court.
Critically, the union continues to exist as a registered organisation. Existing enterprise agreements remain in force. Right of entry permits held by officials remain in effect unless cancelled separately. Industrial obligations under the Fair Work Act do not disappear because the union is in administration.
What changes is the structure of decision-making, the identity and accountability of officials, and — practically speaking — the consistency and predictability of how industrial matters are handled on the ground.
What has changed on construction sites
For construction businesses — particularly those working on large civil projects, commercial builds, or infrastructure contracts where CFMEU membership is significant — the administration has produced a measurable shift in the industrial environment.
The familiar contact points are gone. In states where CFMEU officials had a predictable presence and known relationships with site management, the administration disrupted those networks. Businesses that relied on informal familiarity with union officials to navigate workforce issues found that the people they knew either had their authority suspended or left the organisation entirely. The Fair Work Commission has noted an elevated volume of applications and disputes in the construction sector during the administration period, as parties worked through situations without established relationships.
Pattern bargaining has become less predictable. The CFMEU historically drove pattern enterprise agreements across major contractors, creating a relatively consistent baseline of conditions across large projects. Under administration, the capacity to organise and coordinate pattern outcomes has diminished. For some contractors, that creates uncertainty in enterprise agreement negotiations. For others, it creates more room to negotiate terms that reflect the actual demands of the project rather than a union-wide position.
Right of entry activity has changed in character. With some permit holders facing scrutiny, renewed, or cancelled permits, and with the administrator imposing stricter governance on how union activity is conducted, the frequency and approach of right of entry visits have shifted on many sites. The lawful right of entry framework under the Fair Work Act still applies — valid permit holders can still exercise entry rights on proper notice — but the experience on the ground is different from the pre-administration environment.
Where compliance risk has moved
Here is the shift that matters most for how businesses manage workforce risk: in a stable industrial relations environment, where union structure and established relationships help regulate conduct on site, some of the informal compliance work happens through those relationships. When those structures become unstable, the formal compliance obligations of the employer — and of the host employer — become more exposed.
The obligations have not changed. The Work Health and Safety Act, the Fair Work Act, and applicable state industrial relations legislation apply regardless of what the union is doing. But businesses that had grown accustomed to navigating industrial relations informally — through union relationships, established patterns, and predictable conduct on site — are finding that the informal layer is thinner than it was.
Safe Work Australia has noted that in periods of industrial relations uncertainty, the incidence of WHS disputes and right of entry visits related to safety issues can increase. On sites where union conduct and oversight were previously predictable, the administration has in some cases introduced volatility. Managing that volatility requires clear documentation of your own compliance position — not reliance on relationships that may no longer exist.
What this means for businesses using labour hire
For host employers engaging labour hire workers, the CFMEU administration raises a specific question: do you know who is managing the industrial relations obligations for the workers on your site?
When workers are employed by a labour hire firm, the employment relationship and its associated obligations — awards, enterprise agreements, pay conditions, superannuation, workers compensation — sit with the labour hire company, not the host employer. The labour hire company is the employer. It is the labour hire company that must comply with applicable enterprise agreements, manage right of entry visits for its own employees, and navigate any industrial action that affects those workers.
The questions worth asking your labour hire provider in the current environment:
- Is the company aware of which awards and enterprise agreements apply to the workers it places with you — and can it confirm compliance?
- Does the company hold a current labour hire licence in the relevant state (required in South Australia, Queensland, and Victoria), and is that licence in good standing?
- How does the company handle right of entry visits involving workers on your site?
- Does the company have a documented process for managing industrial relations disputes involving placed workers?
A licensed, experienced labour hire provider carries these obligations and manages them on your behalf. An unlicensed or underprepared provider shifts risk back to you — often in ways that only become visible when a dispute arises.
Twenty-two years of navigating industrial relations shifts
EIR Labour Hire has been supplying workers across civil, construction, manufacturing, and warehousing since 2003. In that time, the industrial relations landscape in the construction sector has changed significantly — through the Australian Building and Construction Commission, the Fair Work Act, the National Employment Standards, changes to right of entry laws, and now the CFMEU administration.
Every worker EIR places — labourers, operators, tradespeople, and admin support — is employed directly by EIR. We carry the employment obligations, including the application of the relevant award or enterprise agreement conditions, workers compensation, payroll, and super. We hold current labour hire licences in South Australia and Queensland. We know what the current industrial relations environment looks like, and we manage our obligations accordingly.
What that means for host employers is straightforward: when you engage EIR, the industrial relations complexity sits with us, not with you. You get the workers you need, employed compliantly, by a provider that has been navigating the construction sector's industrial landscape for over two decades.
The CFMEU administration is an industrial relations event. It does not change your obligations as an employer or host employer. But it does reinforce why those obligations should sit with a provider who knows what they are doing — and has the track record to prove it.