Federal government paid $3.8m in personal protection for then CFMEU administrator

Mark Irving spent 20 months as the CFMEU administrator, during which time he fired hundreds of people and was subject to death threats. Composite: AAP View image in fullscreen Mark Irving spent 20 months as the CFMEU administrator, during which time he fired hundreds of people and was subject to death threats. Composite: AAP Federal government paid $3.8m in personal protection for then CFMEU administrator Senate committee also hears Murray Watt needed personal security after sending the union into administration Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The federal government has paid millions of dollars in personal protection for the administrators of the CFMEU, and had to organise security for minister Murray Watt after he introduced the legislation that placed the union into administration, it has been revealed. Under questioning from Liberal senator Jane Hume in the Senate committee on education and employment legislation, it was revealed that the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) has paid millions of dollars to keep the administrators safe. The CFMEU has cost Victorian taxpayers $15bn, a corruption fighter claims. How did he reach that figure and what happens next? Read more About $3.8m was paid in personal protection for former administrator Mark Irving, who spent 20 months in the role, during which time he fired hundreds of people and was subjected to death threats. The portfolio budget statements also reveal $5.3m has been set aside over two years to “provide personal protective security” to protect Irving’s successor, the union executive Michael Crosby. Crosby, who previously served as the union’s New South Wales executive officer, was appointed as administrator last month. Watt, now the minister for the environment and water, also needed personal security after sending the CFMEU into administration. Hume asked the former minister for employment and workplace relations if he also had personal security, with Watt answering, “I did for a period of time, yeah.” “I’m not sure that it’s wise for anyone to talk about what security arrangements,” he said. Watt would not answer questions around the types of threats or where exactly they had come from that triggered his need for security, but said it was “criminal elements”. Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email “All I’ll say is that there were a number of criminal elements around the country who were not very happy when this government initiated an administration of that union,” Watt said. “Because it stood to disrupt their business model, and those criminal elements operate in a way to express their displeasure that maybe you and I wouldn’t operate in. I’ll just say that.” The secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, Sally McManus, also needed personal security, but Watt made it clear the government had not paid for this. Asked about the cost of security for the administrators, Watt said it was “the responsibility” of the government t