About 30 plasterers of Chinese background assembled outside Southern Cross Station in Melbourne, lodging formal complaints that a plastering company they had worked for — one reportedly tied to figures in Melbourne's criminal circles — had withheld portions of their wages. Workers still dressed in their trade clothes, with construction dust on their hands and arms, gave accounts of receiving less pay than agreed from a contractor operating across several building sites, one of which was the $44 million Bendigo social housing development.
Connections drawn from the workers' accounts point toward figures within Melbourne's criminal networks and construction companies that had dealings with those individuals. Allegations of misconduct within the CFMEU have yet to be formally resolved. Workers coming forward with accounts of unpaid wages and unsafe conditions has drawn attention to what investigators describe as a pattern of labour violations affecting foreign employees across the construction industry.
Following questions put to it by a news outlet, Hansen Yuncken announced it had launched a review into whether its Bendigo housing project's supply chain had ties to organised crime and whether overseas workers on the site had been underpaid.
Crosby — installed as CFMEU administrator by the Albanese government — outlined plans to pursue enforcement action, pointing to failures by contractors Hansen Yuncken and ASX-listed Shape to identify suspected misconduct, while also noting the union itself bore some responsibility for the situation. In a statement, he described the treatment of workers from China across New South Wales and Victoria as resembling conditions of forced labour, adding that plastering-trade workers in both states were reportedly receiving cash payments of between $20 and $40 per hour, a rate he said fell well short of the applicable enterprise bargaining agreement.
Superannuation and redundancy contributions form no part of what those workers are paid. The CFMEU-administered plastering agreement sets an hourly base rate of roughly $60 — a figure that rises further once superannuation, overtime, and sick leave are factored in — though workers have not received those full entitlements in practice. Under Australian law, workers are entitled to a base hourly rate of no less than $34, along with superannuation contributions and applicable allowances.
Gathered outside Southern Cross Station, the plasterers put their individual shortfalls at anywhere from $5,000 to $30,000 per worker, with the collective back-pay figure they are pursuing reported to exceed $2 million in total. A portion of the workforce at the Bendigo location alleged that rates of up to $55 per hour, paid as cash, were offered to them, with a deduction taken out to cover accommodation in overcrowded living arrangements. According to those involved, the amounts paid out fell short of full entitlement by more than half in a number of instances.
Projects undertaken by some team members spanned residential developments across inner-city Melbourne as well as restoration and upgrade work at Yarra Valley Grammar School in Ringwood. Planned work at Hopkins Correctional Centre in Ararat — a 94-bed expansion budgeted at $94 million — had left a portion of the workforce anticipating job placements there once construction got under way.
A tradesperson working in plastering has put forward an allegation that roughly $10,000 in wages went unpaid across a series of large-scale commercial jobs, despite an agreed cash rate of $45 per hour that was reportedly never honoured in full. That worker's complaint extends to superannuation, overtime pay, and leave entitlements — none of which, they say, were ever paid out.
Full names are being withheld at the sources' own request, as they have expressed concern about possible retaliation from parties who would rather their accounts not become public. Among the workers who came forward, several voiced concern about possible pursuit by authorities over unpaid taxes or immigration paperwork irregularities, with at least one handing reporters a set of contracts and supporting documents to substantiate their claims, and explaining that outstanding wages had not been received and that the strain on everyday life had grown as a result.
Employees have described struggling to keep up with mortgage payments, a situation they attribute to a plastering company that has operated under two names — first as Multitude Plaster Commercial and more recently as Metro Plaster — with Jake and Zach Boyer identified as having a partial ownership stake in the business. Both men are alleged to have connections to criminal organisations and motorcycle clubs. The Bendigo housing project saw Hansen Yuncken bring in the firm run by the Boyer brothers to carry out the work. Shape, a construction company, brought the plastering business run by the Boyers onto the RMIT university redevelopment at 235 Bourke Street, a project that remained incomplete at the time.
Within Melbourne's business and entertainment circles, the Boyer brothers operate a tattoo parlour chain alongside the Hex Fighting Series — a mixed martial arts competition whose origins trace back to a founder who received a custodial sentence for drug trafficking — while both men also carry their own prior convictions on record. Court documents on the public record indicate that Boyer received an 18-month custodial sentence in 2015 after being convicted for his part in a robbery and torture carried out by a group of Comanchero bikie gang members who were armed with a shotgun, with Boyer having served as the getaway driver during the incident targeting a drug dealer. Court records show that Boyer had an earlier conviction for recklessly causing injury, and that a search of his home by police turned up cocaine, cannabis, human growth hormone, knuckledusters, and two mobile phones — offending for which he was placed on a 12-month adjourned undertaking.
People with knowledge of the matter have indicated that Multitude pursued contracts by pricing its services below those of competing firms. A manager at one of the firms involved in the Big Build project told a television news outlet that price was the deciding factor in selecting Multitude, and that the Boyers had separately received backing from the CFMEU.
That same year, a partnership took shape between the Boyers and the proprietor of Multitude Plaster, an existing plastering operation, giving rise to a separate commercial arm trading under the name Multitude Plaster Commercial. Metro Plaster grew out of that separation, with the Boyers establishing both entities to pursue contracts beyond the reach of a single firm — among them work tied to the Big Build and development activity across inner-city Melbourne.
The Boyers are reported to have told others they were operating with the support of the CFMEU, a claim that pointed to Rhett Campbell, a union organiser holding a senior position within the organisation. Sources with direct financial relationships to Campbell told a broadcast outlet that he drew on his position as a CFMEU organiser to act in the Boyers' interests on at least two documented occasions — one involving reported pressure applied to a construction firm over an outstanding debt owed to Multitude, the other involving Campbell putting the brothers' company forward on the basis of work previously performed on Shape's Bourke Street project.
Company records document a business arrangement the Boyers entered into with Ye Tao, a businessman based in China, through which he holds a shareholding stake in Metro Plaster and separately operates his own plastering enterprise, WCP Pty Ltd — a company operating under an enterprise bargaining agreement backed by the CFMEU. A fresh enterprise bargaining agreement between the CFMEU and Multitude Plaster Commercial was formalised during September 2025. Those workers, all from China, contend that the arrangement left their wages and entitlements unpaid in full. Employees have claimed their view was that the union functioned in the interests of the Boyers rather than in the interests of the people it was meant to represent.
A text message Boyer sent in reply to a pay dispute raised by one of his workers has been described by that worker as hostile in tone. Attempts to reach the Boyer brothers by text message went unanswered, and no other form of contact proved successful.
Tao's involvement with the Boyers, he maintained, extended only to Metro Plaster work carried out in recent years, and he put forward no awareness of any underpayment of workers. Regarding the Boyers' prior criminal histories, Ye indicated those records carry no weight in his assessment — what matters to him, he said, is the direction each person is taking, not the path already walked. He went on to describe Metro Plaster as an operation that keeps no plasterers on its own books, relying instead on subcontracts sourced from larger contractors such as Shape, which are then passed along to further subcontractors who bring in Chinese plasterers as their own workers, and noted that activities falling outside his direct supervision are not something he has visibility into.
Ye maintained that subcontractor cash arrangements were those firms' own concern and had no bearing on his or the Boyers' conduct, adding that neither party had engaged in anything unlawful or unwise. He further noted that separate legal proceedings had been initiated by him regarding work he characterised as defective or over payment amounts that Metro Plaster contended it was owed.
When asked about its relationship with the Boyers' firm on the Bourke Street project, Shape Australia chose not to address the specific questions put to it, offering only a general statement that subcontractors are required to furnish assurances — including statutory declarations — that they are meeting their obligations to workers they engage, covering correct payment of entitlements. The company also noted it had knowledge that the Boyers' business was drawing on additional subcontractors to carry out the work, and clarified that it holds no contractual standing in arrangements between Multitude Plaster Commercial and those sub-subcontractors.
Hansen Yuncken noted in a company statement that due-diligence procedures were followed when bringing Multitude on board, and that the organisation had been engaged on one occasion only. The statement went on to say that any indication a subcontractor had withheld or fallen short on employee payments was a matter the company took very seriously, and described a zero-tolerance policy toward unlawful or inappropriate behaviour across all areas of operation, with project sites named as a particular area of focus.
When a broadcast outlet's report on Campbell's connection to Multitude became public in July, Crosby arranged to meet with him. What Campbell conveyed to Crosby has not been disclosed, though Campbell continues to hold an organiser position within the CFMEU. Crosby disclosed this week that an inquiry into Campbell's role remains ongoing, while adding through a direct quote attributed to him that the organisation he heads does not shield any employers.
Crosby expressed a commitment to addressing misconduct within the construction sector, stating that removing those who act improperly from the industry formed the core of the role, and that any proposal introducing a character and suitability assessment for all participants would have his support. Campbell did not return calls from the news outlet.
Greenfield's conviction and imprisonment over bribery payments tied to a plastering company owner found to have underpaid workers set the context within which Crosby has driven structural reform efforts across the industry over several months, with the appointed administrator observing that those efforts had begun to take hold in NSW. "In one instance, backpay totalling $750,000 was recovered from a business, while another operation was wound up carrying debts of around $5 million," he noted.
Crosby expressed belief that the campaign could be extended into Victoria and called on Chinese workers to reach out to his administration, noting that elevated levels of apprehension among those workers had placed constraints on outreach efforts. Workers report being warned that any union activity could bring punishment directed at both themselves and family members still living in China, and that management has persuaded them the union would simply be paid off rather than act on their behalf. Crosby noted that any violation of visa conditions puts those individuals at risk of being removed from the country.
Speaking to a closed meeting of union delegates, Jason Deans — who holds the most senior Victorian CFMEU position beneath Crosby — estimated that up to 90 per cent of commercial plastering businesses operating in Victoria could be involved in financial crime and worker exploitation, and called for that conduct to stop. Deans noted that the plastering industry's problems require an immediate halt to current practices, and that meaningful repair across the sector would likely take somewhere between 18 months and two years to achieve.
Wage underpayment claims and reported links to organised crime figures on the publicly funded Bendigo project add to a broader pattern of scrutiny directed at Premier Ben Carroll over contractors with such associations operating within the $109 billion Big Build infrastructure programme. A royal commission under Christopher Kourakis — announced by Carroll — stands as the government's stated answer to the concerns that continue to unfold.
How investigators might trace the path by which firms tied to organised crime secured contracts on publicly funded work has yet to be established. Workers seeking payment for wages they say were never received have expressed a persistent lack of confidence in the authorities handling their case.
