Disgraceful, egregious, insulting: The premier’s spin on CFMEU is out of control

On Tuesday The Age revealed Victorian Labor had received donations from firms under police investigation for suspected corrupt payments or that placed gangland, bikie or CFMEU identities on taxpayer-funded projects.

Another day, another CFMEU scandal and Premier Jacinta Allan giving another reason why the issue does not belong to her.

The donations story was just the latest in the Building Bad series that over almost two years has detailed the corruption, intimidation and criminal influence that has taken residence in the construction industry in Victoria.

If there were a proper broad-based inquiry into the CFMEU, the donations The Age reported this week, and which are now further rising to the surface, would be examined along with the other issues.

Instead of calling such an inquiry, Allan told us straight-faced that she had instead referred allegations to Victoria Police, the Fair Work Commission and the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission in 2024.

The government emphasised the latter in recent days by releasing her referral letter. IBAC felt compelled to reply publicly that it had not acted because the referral was outside of its remit. For it to investigate, a public officer had to be involved.

Surely, this would have been obvious in the first instance. Experts certainly thought so.

Not only that but IBAC had told her this back in 2024, so when she was parading her letter this week she knew it had produced no action. It would be laughable if it were not so serious.

Instead, the actions of the government and the rhetoric of Allan, who was the minister responsible for major projects before becoming premier, should be seen for what they are – an abrogation of responsibility.

Asked about Fair Work Commission general manager Murray Furlong’s assessment of the cost of union corruption at $15 billion, she has wrongly and repeatedly said that number, which he says he arrived at through discussions with Victorian officials, was discredited.

Her “proof” is the assessment of CFMEU administrator Mark Irving that when his corruption-busting lawyer Geoffrey Watson, SC, arrived at the same figure, having spent 18 months up to his armpits in the CFMEU’s worst behaviour, it was not properly founded.

Irving is entitled to his opinion, but Watson and Furlong are two different people. They are also people of substantial credit who have, under oath at an inquiry and in federal parliament respectively, declared their faith in their separate assessments of the cost. But if we take Allan on face value, the words of these men contain no warning, no spur to action.

If the premier’s lack of curiosity is perplexing, her press conference deflections are insulting. The government’s latest – egregious – spin line that concern about the wasted billions is somehow an assault on workers asks us to forget that Labor and the union’s former leadership oversaw a Big Build on which some of those same workers were forced to work with bikies dressed as union reps on sites swimming in public money.

As investigative reporter Nick McKenzie asks on The Morning Edition podcast on the latest disclosures: “What’s very disturbing in Victoria is having established that the government did know, well, where’s the accountability in a Westminster system? If a minister presides over a series of corrupt projects, responsibility should flow to that minister. Well, who was the minister most responsible for the Big Build? It’s the premier.”

This is not just a matter of history. Furlong warned that “workers who are known to be affiliated with outlaw motorcycle gangs and other organised crime groups are moving from their positions on Victoria’s Metro Tunnel and North-East Link sites to Suburban Rail Loop sites, including work health and safety representatives and delegates”.

With that in mind, it was extremely disappointing to hear Prime Minister Anthony Albanese duck the question on Tuesday when asked if Victoria could do more to reckon with the CFMEU scandal.

Remember his government is tipped to greenlight billions of federal taxpayers’ money for the Suburban Rail Loop in the May budget.

Meanwhile, building sites are still being set on fire.

The buck stops with the premier. She must act. Now.

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