A company director has been arrested as part of an interstate probe after a labour hire contractor was accused of bribing CFMEU officials.
The 47-year-old woman was taken into custody after police raided the CFMEU's Queensland head office on Wednesday, along with properties in the state's southeast and Victoria.
Plain-clothes detectives were seen arriving at the construction union's headquarters in Brisbane from 7.30am, while Logan and Gold Coast residences were also searched as part of the joint Victoria-Queensland police operation.
Investigators from Victoria Police's Taskforce Hawk also executed search warrants in Melbourne, raiding Mount Eliza and Pascoe Vale properties along with an Oakleigh South commercial premises from 5am.
"Today’s warrants form part of a Taskforce Hawk investigation into allegations of people linked to a Victorian-based labour hire company providing corrupting benefits to current Queensland-based CFMEU officials to influence them in the performance of their duties,” Victoria Police said.
The company has been identified by multiple media outlets as Top Up Labour Hire.
Its former owner, Steve Mellech, was named in CFMEU investigator Geoffrey Watson's Rotting from the Top report and linked to former Victorian union powerbroker John Perkovic.
Comment has been sought from the company.
The female labour hire company director and a 46-year-old man - both from Mount Eliza - were arrested, along with a 33-year-old Pascoe Vale man on Wednesday.
The director is being questioned by police.
The 46-year-old and 33-year-old men were charged with matters unrelated to the investigation and released from custody.
The Mount Eliza man was charged with making a false document as part of a separate Taskforce Hawk investigation and bailed to appear at Frankston Magistrates Court on December 1.
The Pascoe Vale man was charged with distributing an intimate image and bailed to appear at Broadmeadows Magistrates Court on January 14.
A number of items were seized for forensic assessment during Wednesday's Melbourne searches, including electronic devices and paperwork.
Victoria Police said Taskforce Hawk was focused on eradicating criminality from the construction industry and ensuring everyone in the sector could work in a fair and safe environment.
"Taskforce detectives will also continue to work closely with other agencies, including our law enforcement partners interstate, to ensure all those involved in this type of offending are fully investigated," Detective Inspector Ross Mitchell said.
Reports of criminality could be made anonymously to investigators and would be held in confidence.
Counsel assisting a Queensland CFMEU inquiry, Patrick Wheelahan KC, said detectives seconded to the commission were working closely with Victorian Police as part of the operation.
"Today’s operation demonstrates that information provided to the commission can be investigated and, where appropriate, acted upon by police," he said.
Operation Hawk was established in July 2024 to target criminal behaviour linked to the construction industry.
It transitioned to Taskforce Hawk in June 2025 in response to fresh allegations of serious and violent criminal behaviour.
It targets organised crime associated with the sector, including links to outlaw motorcycle gangs.
A long-running commission of inquiry into the CFMEU's activities in Queensland has also been told of allegations of corruption, bullying and political interference.
The state government has extended the inquiry for 18 months, to run into late 2027.
Further allegations into the union's Victorian operations led to the toppling of former state premier Jacinta Allen and the calling of a royal commission in that state by her successor Ben Carroll.
