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Steven Deer, former head of the CFMEU’s training unit, admitted to defrauding businesses by sending fake invoices to recoup money spent on car modifications. He was fined $2250 after pleading guilty to obtaining property by deception at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court following a Taskforce Hawk investigation. The court heard that Deer sent seven fraudulent invoices totaling about $10,000 to four companies under the guise of a CFMEU account but used his personal bank details for payments.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-09,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
Steven Deer, former head of the CFMEU’s training unit, pleaded guilty in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Friday to a single charge of obtaining property by deception. He was fined $2250 after Taskforce Hawk detectives arrested him last November amid allegations of misconduct within the CFMEU.
Deer, 63, admitted spending about $20,000 out-of-pocket to buy and modify a Ford Falcon XR6 and two smart cars for union traffic training. When the union claimed it lacked funds for new vehicles, Deer created fake invoices and asked four labour hire companies to pay for their logos on his donated vehicles.
The court heard that Deer sent seven fraudulent invoices with CFMEU letterhead requesting payment to an account named “CFMEU Education and Training Traffic Fund,” which actually belonged to him. This case highlights ongoing issues of financial mismanagement within the union.
Written for “CFMEU Training Fraud Invoices” on 2026-10-09,
grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
This article does not take a side on a contested political
question, so it has no leaning score. That is an
answer rather than a gap: a match report or a rescue can be warmly
or critically written without being left or right, and scoring it
anyway is how approval of a subject gets recorded as a political
position.
No political leaning scored for article 67398 · logged 2026-10-09
The former head of the CFMEU’s training unit has admitted duping businesses with fake invoices to send him thousands of dollars as he tried to recoup money for car modifications.
asserted
he → admit → modifications
Steven Deer was convicted and fined $2250 at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Friday after pleading guilty to a single charge of obtaining property by deception.
Taskforce Hawk detectives arrested him last November amid ongoing allegations of misconduct within the CFMEU.
Defence barrister Neville Rudston said the crime stemmed from Deer’s responsibility for the CFMEU’s traffic training, which required he upgrade the unit’s vehicles.
Rudston said the union told Deer it didn’t have money for new cars, so the 63-year-old “put his hand in his pocket” and spent about $20,000 to buy and modify a Ford Falcon XR6 and two smart cars.
asserted
old → convict → XR6
The court heard Deer later asked four labour hire companies if they would pay for their logos to be plastered on the donated vehicles, as he sought to recoup cash.
asserted
he → hear → cash
He sent seven invoices with a CFMEU letterhead to the companies asking for payment to an account named “CFMEU Education and Training Traffic Fund”.
asserted
He → send → account
However, the court heard, the account name was fake and Deer had included his personal bank account as the payment details.
asserted
Deer → hear → details
“Each company agreed to sponsoring the vehicle[s] but were all unaware that the accused had no permission to do so and believed they were paying the CFMEU, not the accused[’s] personal ANZ account,” a summary of the offending said.
asserted
summary → agree → offending
Prosecutor Alex Turner said Deer deceived the companies to gain $10,000, despite Deer’s protests that they “knew he was doing this personally and it was not for the union”.
asserted
it → say → union
“This is, we say, calculated behaviour,” Turner said.
asserted
Turner → say → ?
Rudston pushed for his client to avoid conviction as he argued Deer did not seek to profit personally, had no prior criminal history and that he was unemployable because of media attention around the case.
asserted
he → push → case
“Unusually for a fraud, he’s down more money than he ever got back,” Rudston told the court.
asserted
Rudston → ’ → court
Deer closed his eyes and gently shook his head as magistrate Vincenzo Caltabiano described the offending as a serious breach of trust.
asserted
Caltabiano → close → trust
“This is not one-off, or spur of the moment, offending,” he said.
asserted
he → say → moment
Caltabiano accepted the media attention on Deer due to his CFMEU links had affected him.
asserted
attention → accept → him
“However, whilst that may have arisen due to the identity of the employer, I accept it’s a part of the open courts, which is designed to promote the transparency of the justice system,” the magistrate said.
uncertain
magistrate → arise → system
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asserted
news → know → ?
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