By Emily Woods in Melbourne

Widespread allegations against the CFMEU could be aired in a high-stakes court battle brought by the industrial watchdog to appoint an independent administrator, a court has been told.

The CFMEU faced the Federal Court on Tuesday after the Fair Work Commission applied to appoint Victorian barrister Mark Irving KC as administrator to the CFMEU’s construction and general division, following allegations of criminality and corruption.

If appointed, the administrator can remove officers, officials and employees, in efforts to overhaul the union and ensure its legal compliance, to restore public confidence and ensure union members rights are protected.

Justice Michael Wheelahan notified the parties, during the brief procedural hearing, he planned to hand the matter to a different judge due to his previous history as a barrister.

He said he had appeared on behalf of the Australian Building and Construction Commission before being appointed a judge “in a number of proceedings” brought against the CFMEU.

He said some of these cases involved individuals named as respondents in the current application.

“The proceeding will therefore be allocated to another judge of the court,” Justice Wheelahan said.

However, he decided to continue to manage Tuesday’s hearing to minimise delay and disruption to the high-stakes case.

About 268 individual CFMEU office holders are named in the action, the court was told.

The judge asked the FWC how their preparation of evidence was coming along.

“It is underway, but it is a large endeavour,” the commission’s barrister Brendan Avallone said.

“You’ll have seen from the concise statements, the breadth of the allegations that are set out there.”

Mr Avallone said he could not yet say how long a trial in the matter could be, but “it will be extensive”.

He also could not say what witnesses would be called to give evidence, and could not give a timeline for how long that will take to decide.

“Given the nature of the matters that have been purported, there are challenges in getting people engaged,” Mr Avallone said.

Acting for the CFMEU, barrister Christopher Tran said he needed more information to understand “the case that each of us has to make”.

The hearing was conducted in Melbourne, with a video link to the NSW court where lawyers for the state’s industrial relations minister appeared.

Another application seeking orders to appoint an administrator was filed by the NSW government on Monday.

Barrister Simon Meehan SC, acting for the minister, said he was considering making a cross-vesting application which would transfer the case to the NSW Supreme Court.

He said the minister’s application was of a similar nature to that proposed by the FWC, including the appointment of an administrator, but with a focus on the NSW branch of the CFMEU’s construction and general division.

Several other interested parties appeared at Tuesday’s hearing, including lawyers for the federal government, which is supporting the commission’s move, and representatives of the Australian Council of Trade Unions.

The matter will return to court at a later date.