Western Sydney Airport metro jettisons contractor after scandal

Parklife Metro, which was awarded the contract by the former Coalition government in 2022, has now removed Future Form and all its downstream contractors from the project.

“Sydney Metro commissioned the contracting investigation in September 2025 after media reports of potential criminal activity and workplace breaches at Western Sydney Airport Metro,” the NSW government said in a statement.

“Initiated under the terms of the project’s contract, the investigation by Max Kimber SC has made several significant findings about Future Form Civil Pty Ltd and numerous downstream contractors it engaged.

“These include the suspected underpayment of workers, inadequate insurance coverage and tax fraud.”

According to the government, Future Form “sourced labour from downstream contractors for which it did not obtain approval for or disclose as required”.

“Due to its complex contractual chain, the investigator believes Future Form was unable to track who was on site, the work they were performing and how much they were being paid. This includes an inability to verify basic details on invoices worth more than $10 million,” the statement said.

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“Mr Kimber found at least one worker was asked to come to site to be paid ‘cash in the hand’ before having money transferred to his bank account by an unknown subcontractor.

“Text evidence shows the man was instructed to say he was working directly for Future Form, not the unnamed subcontractor.”

Kimber noted that “key individuals from subcontracting organisations” refused to cooperate with his investigation, which has been referred to agencies including NSW Police, the NSW Crime Commission, the Independent Commission Against Corruption, the National Anti-Corruption Commission, the Fair Work Ombudsman, the Australian Tax Office, and Revenue NSW.

“The confidential Kimber report also details a number of labour supply companies were incorporated within days of each other and to the same residential address,” the government said.

“The companies had the same director and secretary and sent invoices and verifying material to Future Form over the Signal app, through which messages later self-delete and erase all information.

“The report also flagged potential insurance fraud by at least one contractor, with significant discrepancies between its notification to iCare and its payroll records.”

NSW Transport Minister John Graham said the state government is insisting the matter be addressed by Sydney Metro, and criticised the former Liberal government for the public-private partnership which he said “privatised the profit, socialised the risk and kept probity as private as possible”.

“We will not tolerate any impropriety on our building sites, including such an important and generational project as Sydney Metro – Western Sydney Airport,” he said.

“The disturbing findings of investigator Max Kimber SC will now be put in the hands of the right agencies with the coercive powers to investigate this matter fully.

“I have issued a Ministerial Direction which makes clear to the directors of Sydney Metro that the NSW Government expects this to be fixed.”

State Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said the public is “right to demand that anyone working on a taxpayer-funded project, big or small, always follows the law and follows the rules. Regardless of whether they are the head-contractor, or a sub-contractor”.

“Expect this Government to act when and wherever suspect behaviour surfaces in our $130 billion infrastructure program. All members of the infrastructure and construction industries must do the same,” he said.

The news comes after a spat erupted this month between the NSW government and metro contractor Webuild over alleged “gouging” on construction costs.

The metro line, originally slated to open this year alongside WSI, has been pushed back to 2027 after numerous delays on the project.