The shock resignation in late January of Zach Smith, the loyal CFMEU Administration appointee, as both National Secretary and Victorian Branch Executive Officer, should be welcomed by all those CFMEU members who have opposed Labor’s Administration since August 2024.
Unions should never be interfered with by governments. Labor has set yet another dangerous precedent for the Liberals to follow.
While Smith’s resignation is welcome, Administrator Irving has appointed Emma Kingdon, an ACTU lackey, as the Executive Officer of the National Office of the C&G Division.
Kingdon’s role will be the same as every Admin-appointed EO for the state branches of the union.
Nonetheless, Smith’s resignation should be celebrated. He has been a vital cog in the Admin’s game of controlling the CFMEU.
Labor’s Administration laws empower Administrator Mark Irving to choose and direct his staff. Smith was staff.
Smith cited “personal reasons” for his resignation but the real reasons are glaringly obvious to militant members of the CFMEU.
He was worn down from telling the membership that he was going to “resist” or “shield” the union from “the excesses of Admin”—or at least “guide the union through the process and come out stronger”—while actually being nothing more than Irving’s loyal servant.
No matter which face he put on, Smith was compliant to Irving’s long-term, legal neutering of the union to abide by all Fair Work’s anti-union laws.
Smith was key to the purging of militant CFMEU organisers in NSW, Queensland, SA and Victoria.
In the end, Smith’s balancing act was unsustainable.
You can’t say you are “union” and have the interests of the membership at heart while being a key lynchpin of Admin, which exists to serve Labor’s agenda, which in turn, serves the bosses of the building industry.
Letter of recommendation
As part of his role in creating a “leadership” team around him in Victoria, Smith called upon Nigel Davies, a former CFMEU Assistant National Secretary, and “removed person” under Admin laws.
In May 2025, Davies went to the Fair Work Commission to lift his “removed” status. He was able to do so with a letter of recommendation from Smith and no objection from Irving.
Matters came to a head for Smith at the December Victorian delegates meeting and Xmas break-up party where Davies defended the purge of 11 Victorian organisers, including Emma Cain, daughter of retired CFMEU leader Christy Cain.
Christy Cain, National Secretary of the CFMEU before Smith and former National Secretary of the MUA, is reported to “exchanged words” with the reputedly, “undiplomatic” Davies about the purge removing Emma.
Smith sided with Davies, as the purge is central to Admin’s plans to tame-cat the CFMEU, to the point where Christy, was blocked from addressing Victorian delegates on the day.
With the number of own goals by Smith being exposed in the media and the offence to Christy, Smith knew his time was up.
Some CFMEU members will be confused by Smith going but many militant members and delegates will be happy to say, “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”
As one union member told Solidarity, “He couldn’t wrestle control of the branch despite sacking half of it.”
Smith’s resignation was not forced by an organised battle but by the very nature of Admin, attrition and by some self-inflicted wounds.
CFMEU members and delegates can’t rely on Admin being worn down. Admin needs to be actively resisted and ended by a fightback.
The key now is for the militants, union activists and delegates to take the opportunity given to us, which Admin’s musical chairs represents.
CFMEU members should have no illusions in Irving’s new appointments, Lisa Zanetti and Nigel Davies, as interim Joint Executive Officers of the Victorian Branch.
They are both employees of Admin no matter their past records. “Every success” for them means implementing Irving’s rotten agenda.
When Solidarity went to press we wrote, “Sadly, the NSW-based Democracy On Trial (DOT) group posted that they wished Zanetti and Davies ‘every success’.”
DOT has reached out to Solidarity to say their comments “should not be construed as an endorsement Lisa or Nigel”.
“DOT is committed to returning the union to democratic control, not Admin appointees, and will subject both Lisa and Nigel to appropriate scrutiny and accountability.
“DOT was not endorsing them but setting them a challenge—to live up to having a fighting CFMEU.”
Organising rank and file and delegates’ networks to maintain union organisation on site is far more important than who is at the top of Admin. Smith’s demise is a lesson in that.
By Tom Orsag, retired CFMEU member
