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A royal commission into Victoria’s Big Build should examine how political motivations influenced multibillion-dollar commitments to major transport projects, and unpick the relationship between the CFMEU and state Labor government, integrity experts say.
On Wednesday, newly minted Premier Ben Carroll confirmed the royal commission would examine previous Labor governments’ oversight of corruption on state government building sites, promising “exhaustive” terms of reference.
“Whether it is top-tier contractors, subcontractors, labour hire, government, unions – no stone unturned,” he said.
Transparency International Australia chief executive Clancy Moore said the inquiry’s terms of reference needed to be broad, and include the extent to which the Allan government knew about corruption on construction sites for state infrastructure projects.
“This means not only probing the infiltration of organised crime gangs and criminals into the CFMEU and the construction sector, but also the relationships and money flows between the government, the CFMEU, criminals and construction sector players,” Moore said.
“The terms of reference should also critically evaluate Victoria’s integrity safeguards such as the IBAC, Victoria Police and the strengthening of internal anti-bribery and corruption controls in the construction sector.”
Trades Hall secretary Luke Hilakari previously argued against a royal commission. But he said on Wednesday that if one were being called, it should examine the labour hire system, which has been a hotbed of both corrupt practice and concerns about worker exploitation.
“We need the construction sector to be a clean industry, a safe industry, and an industry that looks after its workforce,” he said.
Hilikari said previous Coalition-ordered royal commissions into the union sector had been “witch-hunts”, but noted that the CFMEU had already been put into administration.
“What I’m hoping to see from Labor is a royal commission that gets at the heart of corruption,” he said.
RMIT professor of urban policy Jago Dodson said the inquiry should look at how political considerations had distorted decision-making in Victoria’s $100 billion infrastructure program, leading to projects of dubious merit such as the $26 billion North East Link toll road, the $10 billion West Gate Tunnel toll road, and $34.5 billion Suburban Rail Loop East.
“All were undertaken outside of a formal planning process, where you would go through … [an] investigation and deliberation on the needs for the project,” he said.
“Politicians have been able to just invent projects almost out of thin air, and then push them in the context of an election campaign, as if there are a solution to problems that weren’t necessarily manifest at the time they were dreamed up.”
Dodson said shoring up important electorates with infrastructure commitments was one component of the political influence; another was the relationship between the Labor Party and the CFMEU, where the CFMEU benefited from Labor’s commitment to major projects that employed thousands of members, and the union supported certain MPs through the party’s internal structure.
Former IBAC commissioner Robert Redlich said “we have to look at how the contractual arrangements for each major project were made. What sort of deals were done? How difficult was it for companies to buy into the projects?”
“What did the public service do in relation to their role in oversighting those contractual arrangements? How did the criminal element come to intervene and obtain the benefits that they have from that process?” Redlich told ABC Radio Melbourne
Australian Constructors Association chief executive Peter Colacino, whose organisation represents major building companies, said a key question for the inquiry was how a small group of unionists were able to amass so much power, to the point where they could direct firms to hire subcontractors of their choosing.
“We’ve seen … a small group of people who aren’t held to the same level of integrity, that aren’t held to the same levels of probity, given powers in a very concentrated way,” he said.
Carroll said on Wednesday he had asked the head of the Department of Premier and Cabinet to start working on terms of reference for the inquiry.
The new premier has also committed to appointing a special prosecutor, which will give the inquiry extra teeth and enable information it obtained to be used in real time to progress criminal prosecutions. A special prosecutor was also appointed in Queensland’s Fitzgerald inquiry into police corruption in the late 1980s.
On Wednesday, IBAC Commissioner Victoria Elliott welcomed Carroll’s separate commitment to give the watchdog “follow the dollar” powers before the November election. However, Elliott said other changes were needed so IBAC could effectively expose the misuse of public funds, including making subcontractors on publicly funded works subject to the watchdog’s powers.
“Without these further legislative changes, and commensurate funding, there is the risk IBAC could use ‘follow the dollar’ powers to identify concerning conduct involving public funds, but that it remains outside of our jurisdiction,” she said.
Victorian Greens leader Ellen Sandell said Carroll should prove his claim that integrity “won’t be optional” under his leadership by agreeing to expand IBAC’s powers so it could hold public hearings, investigate a wider range of conduct rather than just potential criminal offences, and increase its funding.
“If he actually wants to stop corruption, not just stop the bad headlines, then his Labor government should vote for the Greens’ anti-corruption bill,” Sandell said.
Opposition Leader Jess Wilson used question time to demand that former premier Allan be called as a witness at the royal commission.
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Patrick Hatch is transport reporter at The Age and a former business reporter.Connect via X or email.From our partners
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