Building Bad

The shocking story of corruption, violence and organised crime inside the CMFEU

In 2024, the spotlight fell on the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU), and specifically the Victorian branch. Whistleblowers and witnesses pointed to the union's sinister links with outlaw bikie gangs and underworld figures. Walkley Award-winning journalists Nick McKenzie and Ben Schneiders joined forces to dig deeper and together they uncovered evidence of blackmail, extortion, drug trafficking on sites, sexual misconduct, bribery, and rorting of government contracts.

One man, John Setka, had been the head of the CFMEU in Victoria since 2012. For the next twelve years, fighting for power, money, and jobs for the boys took precedence over workers' welfare. Underworld figures and bikies were appointed to senior roles alongside Setka. Major Victorian and NSW government construction projects were rorted. Though McKenzie received death threats telling him to back off, he kept stirring the hornet's nest, investigating sinister elements at the heart of the CFMEU and asking questions senior members of the Victorian government still need to answer.

Incendiary, shocking and completely engrossing, Building Bad exposes the tangled web of criminal activity that consumed the CFMEU. A powerful reminder that without brave investigative journalists, corrupt institutions go unchecked, leaving society to pay the price.

About the Author

Nick McKenzie is one of the nation's most decorated investigative journalists, having been named Australian Journalist of the Year on four separate occasions. Over two decades, he has worked for the ABC's Four Corners program, Nine's 60 Minutes and The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers. His reporting spans politics, defence, foreign affairs, the criminal justice system, corporate crime and social affairs. He has been awarded the Walkley, Australia's highest journalism award, a record twenty times. His bestselling book, Crossing the Line, was published in 2023.

Ben Schneiders is a Gold Walkley award-winning investigative journalist who has reported extensively on wage theft, corruption, business, politics and the labour movement. He previously worked for nearly twenty years at The Age as an investigative reporter and editor, winning multiple Walkley awards and was also a four-time winner of the Industrial Relations reporting award. His first book Hard Labour: wage theft in the age of inequality was published in 2022.'