Pressure on CFMEU ramps up with new legal action over Brisbane site
More pressure is mounting on the CFMEU after the embattled union was targeted by the workplace watchdog before a long running Queensland inquiry resumes.
Senior CFMEU officials have been hit with legal action as a state inquiry into misconduct in a state’s construction industry resumes.
The Fair Work Ombudsman has launched Federal Circuit Court action against organisers Dylan Howard and Cody Budgeon along with the union amid claims they defied safety protocols, shutting down a billion-dollar project.
Mr Howard and Mr Budgeon allegedly breached right of entry rules at Brisbane’s underground railway station site, part of the Cross River Rail Project, in November.
The ombudsman alleges the pair ignored health and safety requirements to enter an exclusion zone, bringing all work to a standstill.
“The alleged conduct of the two CFMEU officials on this Brisbane construction site was unacceptable and unsafe,” Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth said in the legal action.
“We expect all workplace participants, including unions and their officials, to follow the law at all times.”
The pair could be fined almost $20,000 while the CFMEU faces penalties of up to $99,000 per contravention.
A directions hearing has been listed for May 25 as the union looks set to come under scrutiny at a Queensland inquiry resuming on Tuesday.
The state government called the inquiry in July 2025 after barrister Geoffrey Watson’s report levelled allegations of thuggery by Queensland’s CFMEU branch.
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Mr Watson has been recalled this week for cross examination after giving damning evidence at the inquiry late in 2025 about the union’s state leadership and behaviour, saying they “revelled” in law-breaking.
Civil Contractors Federation Queensland chief executive Damien Long is also set to feature.
The CFMEU was put into administration nationwide in 2024 amid claims bikies and organised crime figures had infiltrated the organisation.
The union’s leadership was removed and placed under the control of an administrator.
-with AAP
