'Take them seriously': CFMEU administrator on Setka threats

CFMEU administrator Michael Crosby opens up on John Setka, threats and a construction royal commission Thu 30 Jul 2026 at 8:10pm CFMEU administrator Michael Crosby has opened up on threats from John Setka, cast doubt on a statement made by former Victorian premier Jacinta Allan and questioned the value of royal commissions, during an extensive 7.30 interview. Mr Crosby was appointed to the role in May following the resignation of its previous administrator, Mark Irving. At the time Mr Crosby said he was committed to changing the culture of the union, which had in 2024, been placed into administration by the Albanese government, following revelations it had been infiltrated by organised crime. Mr Irving had said he had received death threats during his tenure. Mr Crosby says he too has received threats, a first for him, from former CFMEU boss John Setka. "I take them seriously," Mr Crosby told 7.30. "There's not much I can do about it. The police have taken out the Victorian equivalent of an AVO. "I'm basically ignoring it and moving on. "I think about the work that we're doing in this union, [and] I'm incredibly proud of the people who have come into this union to reform it." Asked if he would take a meeting with Mick Gatto, who had wanted one with his predecessor, Mr Crosby said he would not. "Why would I associate with anybody like that and give him credibility?,"Mr Crosby said. Mr Crosby said in his view the union had done well to weed out corruption since it went into administration, telling 7.30 that he believed criminal elements, no longer held sway. "They have very little grip on the union," Mr Crosby said. "We've moved off 27 leaders, 150 staff members of various kinds have gone away. We've got a whole new team in there rebuilding that union from the ground up." Scepticism on royal commission With corruption and criminality having been major problems for the CFMEU, Mr Crosby was adamant that corruption had also been responsible for a blow out in costs on major Victorian projects. That was something former premier Jacinta Allan had refused to admit, when she blamed inflation rather than CFMEU corruption for the skyrocketing costs on Victoria's Big Build. "That's difficult to accept," Mr Crosby told 7.30. Mr Crosby said criminality had generally caused the cost of construction in Australia to be more expensive. "Inevitably ... somebody is clipping the ticket on the way through,"he said. "Some of the corruption is about who gets to do the work, and these are rich contracts because they're big projects. "If you can get that job, then you get paid by the government to do that."Mr Crosby said that process was a major problem for the construction industry to reckon with. "Criminality comes out of the way in which the industry is organised,"he said. "Governments hand over control of a particular infrastructure project to a head contractor, the head contractor then hands over to control to subcontractors, and then they get labour hire agencies in. "Right through that, that's where supervision breaks down and you get these criminals coming in, subverting the union, corrupting the union and its leadership, but lining their pockets all the way through." A major question for any royal commission into construction, as called by new Victorian Premier Ben Carroll, is if it can fix the major issues around corruption in the sector. It is something that Mr Crosby is unsure of. "Will [we] cooperate with the royal commission? Absolutely," he said. "I am sceptical about royal commissions. There's been four into the CFMEU [and] they've all failed." Watch 7.30, Mondays to Thursdays 7:30pm on ABC iview and ABC TV