Wednesday, 31 July 2024

Select committee

Establishment

Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (15:31): I move:

That:

(1) a select committee of nine members be appointed to inquire into, consider and report, by March 2025, on allegations of corruption and misconduct by the construction division of the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU) on Victorian state government projects, including but not limited to:

(a) the nature, extent, and impact of misconduct, including kickbacks, standover tactics, corruption, waste, intimidation, bribery, the infiltration of criminal elements, and any other illegal conduct involving the CFMEU or others on Victorian government projects, including ‘Big Build’ initiatives;

(b) any connections between CFMEU misconduct and the oversight, directives, actions, and failures to act by Victorian ministers and officials, including the Premier, and the Victorian government agencies responsible for major projects;

(c) the nature and extent of the provision and misuse of public funds by the CFMEU and CFMEU-funded entities;

(d) the impact of the Victorian state government’s management of major projects, procurement, systems, contractual arrangements, and practices on the failure to prevent, detect, and address such misconduct on Victorian government projects;

(e) the impacts of CFMEU misconduct on the health and wellbeing of workers on Victorian government projects, with a particular focus on mental health;

(f) any other relevant matter;

(2) the committee will consist of three members from the government nominated by the Leader of the Government in the Council, three members from the opposition nominated by the Leader of the Opposition in the Council and three members from among the remaining members in the Council;

(3) the members will be appointed by lodgement of the names with the President within seven calendar days of the Council agreeing to this resolution;

(4) the chair of the committee will be a non-government member;

(5) a member of the committee may appoint a substitute to act in their place (for nominated meetings or for a defined period of time) by that member, or the leader of that member’s party, writing to the chair advising of the member who will act as their substitute;

(6) a member who has been substituted off the committee must not participate in any proceedings of the committee for the nominated meetings or defined period of time that they have been substituted off for;

(7) substitute members will have all the rights of a member of the committee and shall be taken to be a member of the committee for the purpose of forming a quorum;

(8) the first meeting of the committee will be held within one week of members’ names being lodged with the President; and

(9) the committee may proceed to the despatch of business notwithstanding that all members have not been appointed and notwithstanding any vacancy.

I am urging all ministers in this house to support this very important inquiry into the CFMEU and those issues that I have just highlighted. I hope crossbenchers and government members were watching the Legislative Assembly question time just now, because that demonstrated exactly why the public needs to understand exactly what is going on. The Premier herself refused on multiple occasions to answer questions from the opposition, as is our prerogative, as is our duty and as is our responsibility on behalf of Victorians – she refused to answer. Plus, I might say, she was fairly well protected in not being able to answer those questions that the Victorian public deserve to have answered.

The CFMEU has plagued Victoria’s construction industry for far too long. The rampant corruption, thuggery and misconduct of the CFMEU has been largely known but never spoken about to the extent it has in the last few weeks, and what has been uncovered is absolutely telling – and it is quite terrifying. The numbers of people that are now coming forward – I thank them for speaking to me and talking about the intimidation and the terrifying experiences and the bribery that they have to undertake to simply get work under the control of the CFMEU. It is truly frightening. And let me be clear: this is not an attack on ordinary CFMEU members. There are good, honest people in the CFMEU – I know some of them; I speak to them.

Not all of the CFMEU union members support the government either, but they understand – as has been highlighted in this chamber – the very high benefits of the union movement and what it does to protect workers. This motion is not about them doing their work, supporting their families and wanting to be safe at work. It is not an attack on unions, which play an important role, as I said, in the industrial relations landscape of our state. This is a call to action against the thuggish, corrupt officials and delegates who have bullied workers and exploited taxpayer-funded projects to the tune of tens of billions of dollars. We have seen that in the project waste and mismanagement overseen by this government, and a lot of that has been because of the issues that have gone on with these corrupt behaviours by the CFMEU officials.

The importance of needing this inquiry should be apparent to every single member in this place. Victorians deserve answers, and that is why the Parliament should be undertaking this work to investigate the nature, extent and impact of CFMEU misconduct on government projects, especially the Big Build initiatives. This inquiry will go to uncovering the truth and hold the corrupt CFMEU delegates and officials to account. Give people a chance to come before an inquiry and tell their story about their experiences.

The Premier’s Mickey Mouse review is not going to achieve any of that. It is a review. It is not going to go to the depths of what is required. I was absolutely stunned to hear the Leader of the Greens say that this parliamentary inquiry does not have the powers to get to some of those investigations, nor does it have the power to compel ministers. She is the Leader of the Greens and does not even understand how the parliamentary process works in this place. That in itself is a stunning, ridiculous excuse not to support this inquiry, because with the Commonwealth Games inquiry the President himself and Minister Shing were compelled before the inquiry and they came before the inquiry. This house has the ability to do that and to compel other witnesses. The powers of a parliamentary inquiry are as significant as those of a royal commission, and this is what some newer MPs do not understand.

The government and the Greens together are covering up their CFMEU mates. They will not allow this inquiry to take place, and that is a shame. That is a disgrace, because Premier Jacinta Allan and the Allan Labor government have failed every single Victorian in this regard. For over a decade Labor has turned a blind eye to the CFMEU’s criminal behaviour, contributing to more than $40 billion in cost blowouts on government projects – $40 billion. That is $40 billion that should be going to health, education, law enforcement, fixing our roads – services that governments are responsible for. The CFMEU taxes increase construction costs by up to 30 per cent. It is more difficult and harder to do business in this state, but worse than that, our reputation is being trashed. We are now known as the gangster state. First we had our reputation trashed with the Commonwealth Games debacle that ricocheted around the world, and now we have got this reputation, and this is all under the administration of Premier Allan.

The money wasted is the money of hardworking Victorians that has been funnelled into the pockets of corrupt union officials instead of being used for those services that I have mentioned – and I am going to raise it again. The debt and the appalling state of Victoria’s financial situation means that health funding is being cut. The executives who were exposed in a tape a few weeks ago talk about the fact that they are going to cut funding to things like dialysis, special nursery cots, vital elective surgery and theatre times. They are closing wards in hospitals, and a range of other services are going. Mental health support is going. These are terrible outcomes. The government has failed Victorians in managing money, but they are very happy to prop up the CFMEU and funnel taxpayers money to them and bloat them to the extent where it is obscene. It is absolutely obscene. That is why this inquiry needs to get to the bottom of the connections between the CFMEU and the actions, or rather the inaction, of Victorian ministers – including the Premier because it has been under her watch that all this has occurred. Premier Allan is responsible for the corruption that has gone on in this state. She has turned a blind eye. She has been a minister and is now Premier, and it is under her watch that this has happened.

Victorians deserve to know if their leaders have been complicit in that corruption. It is clear – as they have done nothing, said nothing, turned a blind eye – that we all need to understand what the hell has gone on here. Are they complicit? Clearly it is leading down that path. Victorians deserve to know if their leaders were complicit in the disgraceful standover tactics. They deserve to know to what extent the CFMEU’s criminal conduct has been ignored or enabled, and it has. Look at what is happening around tobacco shops with these bikies and gangs and others torching shops and being involved in illegal criminal behaviour, all these bikies that are linked into the CFMEU and the Big Build taking delegateships and very important official positions in the CFMEU. It is just a disgrace that you have these criminals running the place, and that is what is happening. I say Victorians deserve to know where their tax money is being directed and the extent to which it is propping up the CFMEU. We do not get answers in this place. We come in here and ask questions of ministers who cannot answer properly or do not want to answer properly about what is going on.

What is even worse is that Labor has turned a blind eye to reports of bullying, unsafe work practices and exploitation by the CFMEU. Look at today – look at what happened in question time today. Look at the letter that was sent by an Indigenous labour hire firm to the Premier in April 2022. She did nothing – sat on it for a year. She told Victorians that she did not know about anything, but she had this letter. The letter was sent to the Premier in April 2022, and she did nothing for a year and then flicked it off to the Fair Work Commission. I mean, talk about dodge – she did not refer it to Victoria Police. There were serious allegations in that letter. For anyone that would listen to the Shadow Attorney-General, who described the disgraceful behaviour of these people, it is just appalling.

We cannot ignore and should never forget the tragic death of Ben Nash, the 18-year-old who was tragically bullied by CFMEU members and locked in a room, just appalling behaviour, on his very first day on a government worksite – locked in a shed for hours, targeted because he wore the shirt of an Indigenous construction firm. What a disgrace! How sad. What a tragic, tragic, tragic story, because he went home and took his own life. And then the audacity of the CFMEU to go to his mother and intimidate her. Again, we asked the Attorney-General today if any law has been breached, and she dodges the question. This government is not accountable for the failures – they never have been. Whether it was years of mismanagement, it has just been an absolute disgrace.

The CFMEU last week was penalised $168,000 by the Federal Court for the shameful bullying of a WorkSafe inspector on the West Gate Tunnel Project. The inspector, having inspected the site and found it safe, was stood over by CFMEU officials, who refused to leave and prevented any work from continuing. Victoria Police attended, and the CFMEU thugs still refused to leave, while hurling abuse at the WorkSafe inspector, who had simply been trying to do his job. The CFMEU officials remained on the site for over 6½°hours, leaving at about 3 am. None of the scheduled works were completed, causing a massive waste of money and resources. Federal Court Justice Snaden said:

There is no possible justification for the conduct in which –

the CFMEU officials –

engaged; and yet each felt licensed to obstruct the performance of work, and to bully and abuse those who sought to persuade them not to …

This is what we are talking about. And yet the crossbench, the Greens, are siding with Labor and will not get to the bottom of these really important issues. What a disgrace.

The need for this inquiry is urgent. Victorians deserve to know when and where the CFMEU has stood over workers on taxpayer-funded worksites. They deserve to have the confidence that the government will clean this conduct up and that CFMEU delegates cannot bully any vulnerable young Victorian or anyone on a taxpayer-funded worksite ever again. The inquiry will uncover the truth, and by God do we need that, because we are not getting it in this place when we question the government. We are not getting the truth. We are not even getting close to the truth.

This inquiry has a narrow scope. It is not about unions, it is about the honest workers who do the right thing, day in and day out. This is about uncovering the enablement and the propping up of the corrupt CFMEU by government – by Jacinta Allan and her government. It is clear that has occurred; it is clear that has occurred for many years. Labor will never take corruption seriously, because they are intertwined with the CFMEU. The CFMEU benefit from Labor’s preferment of them in major project contracts, to the exclusion of other good unions like the AWU. The CFMEU was the single biggest contributor to Labor’s re-election bid in 2022, donating at least $2.5 million over a decade. This corrupt cycle of money and influence must be broken, and this inquiry is the first step. The CFMEU choose who comes into this place and represents the Labor Party on those seats opposite and those in the lower house. The CFMEU has an enormous influence in Labor, because they are one and the same; they are entwined. We need to get to the bottom of the corruption for those good CFMEU members who do the right thing.

Victorians deserve a government that prioritises their interests over those of corrupt union officials. This inquiry is not just about holding the CFMEU accountable. This inquiry is about restoring trust in government and ensuring that taxpayer money is used for the benefit of all Victorians in areas that it is needed, in health, in education, in roads, in law and order and in mental health – in so many areas where government has a responsibility to deliver services to the public. But that is not happening, because of the waste, mismanagement and corruption. Billions of dollars of taxpayers money has been wasted, and those services are declining. It is Victorians who are paying the price as a result of that.

This inquiry is an important one. As I said at the outset, I am appalled that the Greens and other minor parties are siding with Labor. Yes, they are linked to the CFMEU. Yes, we know that they donate to the minor parties. But the government is the one that is sitting around the table making the decisions, writing cheques and allowing the abuse of taxpayers money. Those crossbenchers need to think very seriously and hard about their decisions. If they truly believe in transparency, if they truly believe in accountability, if they truly believe in good government, then they need to support this inquiry and not do the dirty little deal with government. They need to support this inquiry, get it established and get Victorians to understand exactly what has gone on. You cannot take the Greens, the cannabis party or anyone else that will vote against this with any seriousness about transparency or accountability ever again.

This is the biggest scandal in the state’s history. The corruption is so widespread. The waste of taxpayers money to the tune of tens of billions of dollars is truly frightening. Yet these MPs that are siding with Labor are brushing this off. That is such a slight on our democracy, if there are minor parties that come in here that are doing dirty deals with the government to object to this select committee. We cannot get a royal commission because the Premier will not have a royal commission. It deserves a royal commission, no less. She will not have that. The Parliament needs to do its job to get this select committee up and running to stamp out this corruption, to give Victorians the trust in government, to stop the waste and mismanagement and to get rid of this criminal, thuggish, dreadful behaviour that is rampant across the state in Big Build projects, which Victorian taxpayers are paying for. I urge all members of the Parliament to support this inquiry.

Tom McINTOSH (Eastern Victoria) (15:51): I rise to speak against this motion. Now, we have had serious allegations in recent weeks, and the government has responded seriously. We have had referrals to Victoria Police. We have had referrals to IBAC. We have had referrals to an independent review by Greg Wilson. The act, the framework that independent review sits in, was introduced by those opposite. Denis Napthine introduced that act, one of the few things he did in the four-year term of government that the Liberals had. They did very little else in that time, but they introduced the act and they made it clear that any executive inquiry undertaken under the act would be independent and flexible. So it was good enough for the Liberals then. At the same time, the federal Liberals were starting royal commissions into the trade union movement that dragged on, cost millions and millions of dollars and found, for all the fanfare, for the millions and millions of dollars – tell us what they turned up. And this is exactly what the Liberals are trying to get at again. Their pursuit of lowering the conditions and of lowering the pay of working people is an endless pursuit. And the divided Liberal Party – the one thing they can come together on, with their lack of values, their lack of policy, their lack of a plan for this state, the one thing they can unite on, is their determination to drive down workers pay and conditions.

I will speak through the parts of this motion, and I want to come to procurement, because I am very happy to talk to what this government has done for working people in Victoria through its procurement policies. For starters, let us just think about the entire generation of workers wiped out when the SEC was dismantled under the Liberals last time they were in government – a generation of workforce wiped away. That is why our procurement policies have made sure that trainees, apprentices, come on to jobs. We have ensured that there are targets and quotas that are met to build the pipeline of workers that we need in this state. And we have made sure that the training and skills are there, particularly through our investment in the TAFE system, which was absolutely gutted the last time the Liberals were in charge. We have spent our time in government on our commitment to, our investment in, rebuilding TAFE so we can train Victorians to come and fill the jobs that we need to keep up with the demands of construction, of manufacturing and of our health services across our state.

Now to the procurement: where those opposite do not believe in quotas or do not believe in taking determined actions to raise the representation of women – whether it is on boards, whether it is with MPs in government – we on this side have done that all the way through, whether it is on our state boards or in the procurement for our construction industry. We have also worked actively to support our First Nations people working. If we talk about people who are not in work, unemployment rates were nearly double last time the Liberals were in charge. When we talk about wanting to see women in well-paying jobs, getting paid superannuation, that is something else that Liberals are thoroughly and fundamentally against. They hate the idea of Victorians having savings.

Renee Heath: On a point of order, Acting President, I cannot see how this is at all relevant to the motion.

Tom McINTOSH: On the point of order, Acting President, in regard to paragraph (1)(d), ‘the impact of the Victorian state government’s management of major projects, procurement, systems’, I am speaking to procurement, and I am speaking to the policies that we put in through that procurement.

The ACTING PRESIDENT (Jeff Bourman): Let me rule on the point of order. You are also the lead speaker for the government, so you do get a bit more leeway. Power on.

Tom McINTOSH: Thank you. I think the lead speaker for the Liberals was given quite a bit of leeway. The lead speaker for the Liberals made numerous accusations and talked about numerous people she talked to. She should be referring those through the methods I laid out at the start. There are methods of referral, and if Ms Crozier has information, it should be referred appropriately.

I have talked through our commitment to trainees, to apprentices, to getting women working in the workforce and to supporting our First Nations communities as we have a resolute commitment on this side that is not seen by those opposite. We have seen it so much in recent times – the treaty process walked away from. That is what we know through –

Members interjecting.

The ACTING PRESIDENT (Jeff Bourman): One second. It is getting really loud in here. I have to listen to Mr McIntosh in case I get another point of order. Can we keep it down a little bit, please.

Tom McINTOSH: Jobs, procurement – I am about to go on and talk about major infrastructure projects. Those opposite in their four years did not start one. And when they did have the opportunity to purchase things for this state, the contracts went overseas – the trains, the trams. Those purchased by this government are built right here in Victoria. They are built by Victorians, supporting apprentices and trainees. It is the investment this side has made in our transport infrastructure that is seeing the economic productivity gains that are going to set this state up for generations to come.

We need to be able to get our people from A to B, whether that is on our roads, and we have seen that through projects that are underway at the moment, through our projects across Melbourne. We have seen it with the Metro Tunnel to move people on public transport; it will come online next year. The Metro Tunnel will unlock the capacity of our train network. Our regional and metro train travellers will be able to get where they need to go quicker. It is this investment in our state, the investment in our productivity, that those opposite never would have touched, because your – I struggle to call them values – approach to politics is hands off the wheel, let her go, let her rip and she will be right. Then we end up with more wasted Liberal years. When this side brought in wage theft laws, where were those opposite? When this side brought in portable long service leave, those opposite opposed. Labour hire regulators. You have stood against industrial manslaughter. Time and time again they have stood against it.

I will speak very briefly federally and then come straight back to the motion. When the opportunity came to give Australia’s lowest paid workers $1 an hour more, your party could not even bring itself to support that at the Fair Work Commission – even as a submission, as a recommendation, you could not do it, because fundamentally you want to see Victorian and Australian workers getting paid less in worse conditions. You do not want to see those qualities.

Let us talk about the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry. When that was on, you were dragged kicking and screaming. The big banks collected $850 million in fees for no service, including from dead clients and where no services were paid in return.

A member interjected.

Tom McINTOSH: Yes, here we go. Where were the voices? Where were the calls then? Instead we have this inquiry that has been proposed. As I have said, we have appropriate methods of referral to deal with this. If those opposite have concerns that they claim to be so concerned about, make those referrals to the appropriate places.

Members interjecting.

Tom McINTOSH: There are just so many interjections.

Bev McArthur interjected.

Tom McINTOSH: No, I have not finished. We on this side are absolutely proud of our procurement policies. We on this side are absolutely proud of the investment we are making in this state not only to set up the economic productivity for generations to come but to train a generation of workers that we absolutely need. Workers want these jobs, and that is why we see unemployment at record lows.

Sarah MANSFIELD (Western Victoria) (16:01): At the outset can I state that the Greens firmly believe that all workers, whether they be paramedics, nurses, journalists or construction workers, have a right to a safe workplace and fair wages and conditions. Construction is particularly high-risk work in terms of safety and risks of exploitation, and workers in the industry require strong and effective representation. There are some who are using the recent allegations about the CFMEU that have been the subject of recent media scrutiny to delegitimise the role of unions more broadly in protecting workers rights. The Greens respect and strongly support the critical role that unions play in representing workers’ needs and securing their rights. Ultimately it is everyday workers who suffer when their unions are not effective or functional, which is why the allegations regarding the CFMEU, including allegations about kickbacks and potentially corrupt or criminal behaviour, are very serious and concerning and warrant investigation.

We note that in Victoria there are a number of investigations and inquiries underway already, including referrals to the police and to IBAC and an independent inquiry. And I am sure the public, like us, will be watching carefully to see what comes on these. No-one should be above the law. What the Liberals are proposing here is an additional select committee into the matter. The problem is that a select committee is unlikely to be the appropriate mechanism to undertake such an investigation. I have to take issue with the Leader of the Opposition’s comments about a select committee’s powers to compel a minister to appear before it. As we have learned very well through the Commonwealth Games inquiry, a select committee –

Harriet Shing interjected.

Sarah MANSFIELD: You turned up, Minister Shing. However, they are unable to compel a member of the other house, including the Premier, to appear before it. That is because, as Ms Crozier should well know, there is an established principle that the independence of both houses means that a committee cannot claim authority over a member of the other house – just to put that one aside. The recommendations of such a committee are also not binding, and it is unlikely to provide additional insight above and beyond the existing independent inquiry.

If we actually want to get an outcome here, which is what we should all be looking for, and actually stop these scandals and stop corruption from happening, we need to actually fix our anti-corruption systems here in Victoria. Victorians have every right to expect that their government and government-funded projects are free from corruption and are managed well in the public interest, not in a few vested interests. This has not always happened in Victoria. Integrity was a top concern for people of all ages at the last state election, and it is little wonder. There have been numerous scandals here in Victoria over the last few years. There was red shirts, developer donations and inappropriate developer links to Labor and Liberal MPs and councillors, the cancelled Commonwealth Games, cost blowouts over the North East Link and West Gate toll road. That these scandals continue to occur demonstrates that Victoria’s integrity and oversight systems are not up to scratch. They are in fact the weakest in the country.

If we want to fix these scandals at their root, we actually need to fix Victoria’s anti-corruption system. This requires structural changes to increase government transparency and accountability. That is why this week the Greens reintroduced our bill to strengthen IBAC by lowering the threshold for what constitutes corrupt conduct and to bring IBAC in line with other jurisdictions, including the federal National Anti-Corruption Commission. Currently in Victoria IBAC can only investigate conduct that meets a criminal threshold, which is an incredibly high bar that prevents a whole range of other conduct, like kickbacks, being looked into. The Greens bill would give IBAC some teeth and allow it to investigate the sort of corruption that the public rightly expect to be the subject of scrutiny. This includes, as I said, things like kickbacks, conflicts of interest and jobs for mates.

This chamber might recall that an identical bill did actually pass this chamber of Parliament last year. However, the Labor government voted it down in the Assembly. It is deeply concerning that our Victorian government does not want to fix our broken anti-corruption systems. There are a range of other measures that would improve oversight and transparency that need to be taken, and in making any comments on this I am mindful of the anticipation rule and the debate on an integrity bill that is planned for tomorrow. But in general terms we have government committees that currently lack the power to genuinely hold the government to account. We have processes that are designed to keep the government in check that are then controlled by that same government. It makes no sense, and the Greens are pushing – and have long pushed – to change this. The Greens have long argued for reforms that increase the strength of Victoria’s integrity and oversight systems.

The thing is it is actually in everyone’s interest to improve these systems. Most importantly, it is in the public’s interest to have functioning democratic institutions that they can trust. But it is actually also in the government’s own interest. Repeated scandals have a habit of bringing down governments. Strong parliamentary oversight can detect problems and stop them from happening again. Strong independent integrity bodies like IBAC ensure our government institutions are acting appropriately. On the other hand, governments that maintain weak parliamentary oversight and integrity mechanisms end up creating or reinforcing a public perception that they are trying to hide something. We would urge all parties to support reforms to make sure our anti-corruption bodies are up to scratch.

Gaelle BROAD (Northern Victoria) (16:07): I rise to speak on this motion for a select committee looking into the corruption and misconduct by the construction division of the CFMEU. There is a huge need for a select committee inquiry into this issue regarding the allegations of corruption and misconduct. Our role in this chamber is to uphold good governance and ensure transparency, and I support the motion for an inquiry into this issue.

What has come to light in the media is that there have been significant issues with CFMEU conduct on government worksites for years, and the Labor government, which receives millions of dollars in political donations from the CFMEU, has failed to take action. The state government has done nothing about the intimidation, alleged corruption and the presence of bikie and organised crime figures on building sites. There have been press conferences and talk but no action to actually remove bikies and other organised criminal elements from major building sites that are funded by Victorian taxpayers. The Allan Labor government has enabled union misconduct to run rampant on Big Build construction sites funded by you and me.

The CFMEU is one of the largest donors to the Victorian Labor Party and directly influences Labor Party policy, preselections and internal party appointments. It is concerning that we have now heard several ministers were aware of these issues on government worksites but the Labor government turned a blind eye to allegations of misconduct on these worksites. It took the Premier more than a year to respond to written allegations of violent threats and intimidation by the CFMEU. Under the Premier’s watch the CFMEU was given preferential treatment and major project costs on taxpayer-funded projects have blown out by over $40 billion. The Labor government has wasted billions, and every Victorian is paying the price through higher taxes and fees and massive budget cuts in other vital areas, like hospitals and like our roads. Labor cannot manage money and they cannot manage projects, and Victorians are paying the price. I note that Mr McIntosh in his contribution claimed that on our side we do not care about the workers, but we do, and that is why we want to end this misconduct and bullying on government worksites – if only Labor cared enough to investigate these issues. Since coming to office Labor has introduced more than 50 new or increased taxes, and Victorians are now paying the highest taxes in Australia. After a decade under Labor Victoria now has the highest debt of any state in Australia. We are heading towards $188 billion by 2027–28, so we will soon be paying $26 million every single day in interest.

It is also concerning that at the federal level the Australian Building and Construction Commission, able to review cases of misconduct by unions, was actually disbanded in 2023 under the Labor government. These are serious issues that need to be properly investigated, and an internal review by government appointment is not sufficient. Premier Allan has opted for a review that is intended solely to protect her and her ministers. This review by Mr Greg Wilson will not involve public hearings. It will certainly not involve any consideration of potentially criminal matters in the CFMEU scandal. A royal commission is needed to examine these issues to see how far the problems go and bring these matters to light.

In the lower house the Liberals and Nationals also put forward a bill to ban bikies, underworld figures and their associates from taxpayer-funded infrastructure projects. It would have given the power to building contractors to refer workers suspected of being involved in organised crime to Victoria Police, but the government rejected it. We also need to ensure that Victoria is better equipped to deal with these matters in future, and a Liberal–National government will establish an independent watchdog, construction enforcement Victoria, to enforce a code of practice for the building and construction industry to raise standards and stamp out misconduct.

These CFMEU issues that we have heard about are not just in Melbourne. Last week I was told by a local business owner who owns a building clean-up and demolitions business in Bendigo that when he attended a school site in 2012 he was told by a CFMEU official there that his workers would need to do induction before they were permitted onsite. So he waited several hours and reminded him that they were being paid by the hour, but it took more phone calls to Melbourne. His 16 workers, he was told, would have to join the union at a cost of $16,000. The union representative assured him that if he joined, they would make him a millionaire, but due to the cost he declined to do so. After that, the jobs he had lined up at other sites for the government and council finished up. Today he only has four workers. I commend this motion to the house. We need an inquiry because all Victorians deserve to know how their taxpayer funds are being spent.

Sonja TERPSTRA (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (16:13): I also rise to make a contribution on this motion, motion 491, standing in Ms Crozier’s name effectively calling for the establishment of a joint select committee to inquire into the CFMEU. I have had the benefit of listening to a number of contributions in regard to this. It is not surprising to many on this side and certainly not to anybody who is in the union movement that again the union movement is facing sustained attacks from those in the Liberal Party who just see this as nothing more than an opportunity to kick the union movement in the guts. I am going to go to a whole range of things that will actually highlight the true motivations of those opposite behind this.

Since this story broke about allegations about poor behaviour, corruption and illegal activity on construction sites, I will tell you what the government has done – and also, importantly, what nobody has mentioned in this place until now is what the union is doing. I can tell you we do not need ruling class –

Members interjecting.

The ACTING PRESIDENT (Jeff Bourman): Order! Enough! Come on – Ms Terpstra has barely started. Can we just let her get into it, please.

Sonja TERPSTRA: Thank you, Acting President. What I was about to say before I was rudely interrupted is that the movement does not need ruling-class Tories telling working people what they should be doing.

I will tell you what has happened. Again they just demonstrated that they do not even understand the structure of unions. The CFMEU construction division is a division of a national union. It is the Victorian division of a national union. They might actually learn something over there, because I am going to talk about what the national union –

Members interjecting.

Sonja TERPSTRA: I know. Ms Shing tried earlier to give them a lecture and an understanding of how industrial relations actually work, but they are not interested because clearly their motivations are in other places. But what I will say is that since this issue broke the Allan Labor government has announced an inquiry into this. What we have said is we will expose this rotten culture in parts of the Victorian construction sector. We are undertaking an independent review to strengthen the power of the Victorian government agencies who are engaged with construction companies and construction unions, and we are also making sure that people will be able to come forward with critical information about conduct on worksites –

Members interjecting.

The ACTING PRESIDENT (Jeff Bourman): All right. If we can all show a little bit of respect. We just want to get through this. Everyone is entitled to their say. Some of us have had their say, and some of us are trying to have their say. The quieter we can be, the quicker we will get through this.

Sonja TERPSTRA: The Victorian government released the scope of the independent construction sector review to strengthen the powers of bodies which are engaged with construction companies and construction unions to respond to allegations of criminal or unlawful conduct. The review will be conducted independently by Greg Wilson and will investigate and recommend powers and ways to address any gaps or limitations in the current powers of Victorian bodies or legislation to respond to allegations of criminal or other unlawful conduct in the Victorian construction sector and their interactions with the powers of the Commonwealth. At the request of the Victorian government, the national executive of the Australian Labor Party has banned donations from the CFMEU’s construction division – which is what I tried to outline earlier; it is a division of a national union; you just do not understand it – and suspended the division from the Victorian Labor Party.

A member interjected.

Sonja TERPSTRA: No. You do not understand it. I am trying to explain there is a difference, but you are not interested. The Commonwealth minister Tony Burke has confirmed he has requested that the Fair Work Ombudsman undertake a targeted review of all enterprise agreements made by the construction branch of the division of the CFMEU that applied to Victorian Big Build projects. The Victorian government has also written to the Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police and the Commissioner of IBAC referring allegations for investigation and will also introduce legislation into the Parliament which will make it much easier for Victoria Police to issue anti-association orders for people that are accused or suspected of illegal activity. That is what the government has done since this has broken.

Let me just talk about what the union itself has done. Again, they do not understand this, because again, the CFMEU –

A member interjected.

Sonja TERPSTRA: Why don’t you listen, because you might learn something? You are actually embarrassing yourselves with the way you are carrying on. I might say that since this story broke, the CFMEU, the national division, have themselves written to their members via their Facebook page and talked to their members about what the national union is going to do. The national union advised its members that they have indeed set up an independent investigation into these issues. This is the national union investigating the Victorian division. It is a separate entity. They have set up an independent investigation into these issues.

National secretary Zach Smith advised his members he has appointed Geoffrey Watson SC to investigate alleged criminal wrongdoing raised in public reporting. I commend him for that. He has taken swift action. He advised his members of this on 30 July. Geoffrey Watson SC will report back to him as the national secretary of the union. Mr Watson is a former counsel and barrister who assisted in the New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption and a director of the Centre for Public Integrity. He is among the most respected barristers and investigators in the country. Mr Watson’s review will inform the future actions of the union. I commend the national union for taking strong and principled action.

But wait, there is more – not that you want to hear about it, because you cannot take it. As I said earlier, we do not need ruling class Tories investigating unions, because what you really want is to destroy the union movement. That is what you really want. The next thing the national union did, in addition to appointing Geoffrey Watson SC, was to also appoint Susan Halliday AM and Michael Paynter to undertake a review into the union’s governance arrangements. Ms Halliday is an independent practitioner and compliance expert. She is a former sex discrimination commissioner, acting disability discrimination commissioner and ministerial appointment to the defence abuse taskforce and was the inaugural chair of Victoria’s largest professional regulator.

Mr Watson, Ms Halliday and Mr Paynter are all eminently qualified and well placed to conduct independent reviews into the union. This has been undertaken by the national secretary in response to the things that have been alleged. Ms Halliday and Mr Paynter will not only be looking at governance but also be looking at how they can build on the work that has already been undertaken with the union by including a new national code of conduct for delegates. As I said earlier, the union movement is well placed to look at resolving its own problems.

Our government has taken strong action because we recognise that we cannot have these things happening in regard to our Big Build projects. They are important projects that Victorians voted for and voted for a number of times. But if the union is destroyed and the union movement is destroyed – let me just report these interesting facts and explain why we need a strong union in the construction sector. Tragically, nine Victorian workers died in 2023 as a result of falls from height, including four in the construction industry. The number of accepted claims from construction workers injured in falls from heights increased to 441, up from 421 in 2022 and 404 the year before. Of the construction workers injured, 160 fell from ladders, 46 from steps and stairways, 31 from buildings or structures, 27 from scaffolding and 13 from openings in floors, walls or ceilings. The construction sector is a dangerous sector to work in. One worker’s death is one too many, and this is why we need strong and principled unions in that sector to ensure that any worker who works in the construction sector when they go to work can come home safe.

But what those opposite want to do is to kick the guts out of workers, because let us face it, whilst they seek to disparage CFMEU members, they besmirch every union member. They besmirch all union members. So many union members are nurses, teachers and police officers. You want to call our hardworking healthcare workers and teachers corrupt? You are a disgrace. All you want to do is destroy the union movement. But we know that, because it is in your DNA. We can see it coming. You are basically casting aspersions on every union member rather than just calling out a very small element that needs to be dealt with. When you talk about the hundreds and hundreds of thousands of Victorians who are union members, you are besmirching every unionist. Nurses, teachers, police officers, childcare workers, retail workers –

Members interjecting.

Sonja TERPSTRA: You are a disgrace. I look forward to the work of these important investigations.

David ETTERSHANK (Western Metropolitan) (16:24): Can I just open up by saying that there is nothing in the alleged corrupt practices within the CFMEU that is in any way acceptable. A corrupt union corrupts the union movement and besmirches the union movement. I think we all agree on that across the chamber, and as such, that corruption, to the degree that it exists – and that is to be determined, should be determined and I have no doubt will be determined – should be eliminated.

Picking up on Ms Terpstra’s comments, for me the construction industry has always been a part of my life. My grandfather was a life member of the Building Workers’ Industrial Union New South Wales branch and later the Queensland branch. My first job in the union movement was working for the BWIU, now part of the CFMEU, in Queensland. As a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed young communist, amongst my idols, amongst my heroes, were people like Jack Mundey and Joe Owens, who led the BLF in New South Wales. When we proudly point out all of those beautiful heritage buildings in Sydney as part of our culture and our history, they only exist because of the action that was taken by the BLF in the face of opposition from the state government, construction companies and developers.

I have also had in my life the pleasure, or the displeasure, of seeing firsthand the work of people like Norm Gallagher, who was profoundly corrupt and who undermined other sections of the union movement, including the BWIU, did dirty deals and ultimately got his comeuppance, and now it would appear that Mr Setka may be about to join that queue. But in an industry that is incredibly dangerous, where workplace injury and fatalities are endemic, a strong and representative union is critical. It is critical. Let us recognise that if we look at the data from the International Labor Organisation, the Australian construction industry is the second-most productive in the developed world and it is the safest construction industry in the developed world.

The question in my mind then is: how do we best ensure that this corruption is rooted out within the construction division of the CFMEU? I want to stress that we are talking specifically about the construction division, because the CFMEU in Victoria is obviously more than one union. I think everyone has been happy to lump together this thing which is the CFMEU when in fact there is obviously the Mining and Energy Union, which is not part of this; there is the manufacturing workers union, which is not part of this; there is also the –

Ryan Batchelor interjected.

David ETTERSHANK: Not the maritime – sorry. There is forestry, pulp and paper, and that is not part of this. We are talking specifically about the construction division. If we are looking at how this might move forward, I guess before we work out where we might want to go, it is perhaps worthwhile taking a second to reflect upon what is already happening.

As I understand it – and I do not profess to be an expert on all of this – at the federal level we have an investigation by the Australian Federal Police both in terms of organised crime and corruption and also a referral from Minister King federally about corruption impacting upon federal government money in infrastructure projects. We have the Australian Federal Police as part of the national anti-bikie taskforce – and people have been keen to talk about the bikies – also with an active inquiry. Hopefully at a later date when we are talking about the regulation of cannabis we might like to also talk about the role of bikies there, because I have not heard a lot of opposition or concern about the fact that the cannabis industry is dominated by bikies, and it is a compelling argument for the regulation of cannabis – to explicitly remove the bikie element – but I will not go any further there.

We also have a Fair Work Commission review of all CFMEU enterprise bargaining agreements on Big Build projects, and we have the Fair Work Commission appointment of an external administrator, which is every bit plus a little bit more of what an administrator would do to a bankrupted company or a company that is going into administration: they have the power to hire and fire and the power to review all decisions, to look at governance structures, to look at all levels. Clearly a lot of stuff has been identified that is deeply concerning and that no doubt an external administrator would want to look at. I believe, although it is their policy not to confirm it publicly, that this has also been brought to the National Anti-Corruption Commission. Of course we also have the department of infrastructure federally looking at the investigation of projects with federal money. So that is just federally.

At a state level we have the formal review into the Victorian government bodies engaged with construction companies and construction unions, which Ms Terpstra just talked about in terms of the Wilson report. We have the Victorian government’s referral of a range of offences. We have the referral to the IBAC, so we have got ICAC in New South Wales looking into this and we have got IBAC looking into this. We have Victoria Police referred directly by the government as well as through their involvement in the national anti-bikie taskforce. I believe there is also the prospect of the Yoorrook Justice Commission investigating the issue of that absolutely outrageous assault on subcontractors from a First Nations employment and training program. It is sort of like ‘Take a number.’ It is almost cute. I think, by my count, there are at least 11 entities that are concurrently looking at this. So the question probably arises in this context: what does this inquiry bring to it?

But before I do that, I want to pick up a comment that Mr Mulholland made this morning. I know it was in slightly different context in terms of your next initiative. You said, and I absolutely respect you saying this, that part of our focus has to be on the members of that union and that you knew people that worked in that union, you had friends that worked in that union. I do too. There are 37,000 people that are within that construction division who are affected by this process. I think it is really important that whatever we do ensures that all aspects of corruption, all aspects of malpractice in the sector, are addressed. One of the concerns that I have – I raised this specifically with Ms Crozier, and I appreciate her taking the time to talk to us about this; I genuinely do appreciate that – is that if this has been going on for at least a decade, which I think is the suggestion, then I guess the thing that strikes me is that you cannot really have corrupt unions without having corrupt bosses, because there have clearly been a whole lot of people there. We did suggest –

Evan Mulholland interjected.

David ETTERSHANK: I am happy to come to Cbus, because that opens a whole other Pandora’s box. I will actually pick that one up; I will come to that. You cannot have corrupt unions without corrupt bosses. More than that, there are a whole lot of issues here which an inquiry, as we see it, will not address. How do we address the question of phoenixing, which we know is endemic in this industry? Builders who just live to die and recycle their finances – (Time expired)

Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (16:34): I am pleased to rise to support Ms Crozier’s motion to develop a select committee into the corruption and misconduct of the – wait for it – construction division of the CFMEU. We have heard about the government setting up its own inquiry. We have got history of the government’s own inquiry. We had the Coate inquiry, where everybody suffered from amnesia. It seems that that was no isolated incident. This government has been suffering from amnesia in relation to the CFMEU for a very long time. When they try to say that they knew nothing about this, well, on 28 March 2020, 120 of us got an email, including the former Premier Daniel Andrews. The now Premier Jacinta Allan got it. The member responsible for the emailer’s electorate, Sonya Kilkenny, got it. It was from a concrete contractor. In fact he addressed it to ‘anyone who can help, please’. He said:

I own a medium size business. We currently employ about 40 staff. We are obviously in severe distress at the moment …

He went on to cite the issues of coronavirus.

We have had to start making staff redundant. we have an EBA with the CFMEU, and they have been vehemently opposed to what we have had to do, regardless of the circumstances. They have now taken to entering our workplace, intimidating the remainder of the staff and ordering them to down tools, and they have been extremely intimidating to myself and my business partner … even taking videos of him and posting them on facebook. They are citing safety issues in our workplace but these are completely fabricated and proven so by Worksafe inspectors who have visited our site to review the “suspected” breaches.

Can you please –

and he pleaded with the government and all of us –

make an effort to end this absolute thuggery so we can do the best we can to keep our business viable. I find it an absolute disgrace that the CFMEU want to close our business down and make 40 of their members and the rest of our staff unemployed.

I am sorry to say that that business is no longer in existence, thanks to the thuggery and behaviour of the CFMEU and the complete abrogation of responsibility by this government, who did absolutely nothing despite knowing about it. Then we had the outrageous position of the current Premier saying she did not know. Spare me! We have a situation now where all unions and union workforces are being tarnished because of this outrageous behaviour of a section of a union. Let me tell you what the courts have said about the CFMEU’s conduct.

Harriet Shing interjected.

Bev McARTHUR: Ms Shing, have you got something to say? Do you want to take a point of order or do you want to be quiet?

The ACTING PRESIDENT (Jeff Bourman): I can deal with that, thank you, Mrs McArthur. Can we just stop the cross-conversation right in front of me. I am trying to keep track of the member’s contribution.

Bev McARTHUR: I have a large number of things to say that might interest you, Ms Shing. I want to tell you what the courts have said about the CFMEU’s conduct. I quote Judge Salvatore of the Federal Circuit Court:

… the most recidivist corporate offender in Australian history …

I will go on. Justice Jessup of the Federal Court said:

The CFMEU’s record of noncompliance with legislation of this kind has now become notorious …

That record ought to be an embarrassment to the trade union movement.

Let us talk about Judge Jarrett, again from the Federal Circuit Court, who said:

As the very many reported cases reveal –

very many reported cases –

it is an organisation with a long and sorry history of industrial disputation in which its willingness to disregard the industrial laws of this country seems to know no bounds.

Judge Jarrett again:

The CFMEU has an egregious record of repeated and wilful contraventions of all manner of industrial laws …

Justice Tracey of the Federal Court said that the CFMEU had ‘a pattern of repeated disregard for the law’. There are a litany of quotes from eminent jurists about the bad behaviour of the CFMEU, and this government, this current Premier, the minister for the Big Build, tries to tell us that they did not know and they did not want to do anything about it – businesses going broke, corruption and rorting on a monumental scale.

Let us go to Mr McIntosh, who mentioned what unions do for women. Let me tell you exactly examples of the CFMEU’s conduct against women. Listen to this: the CFMEU organiser Luke Collier has been found to have harassed a female Fair Work inspector and played the song Who Let the Dogs Out on a loudhailer when she entered the worksite. He was also said to intimidate a female inspector on a Barangaroo site in Sydney: ‘effing slut’ and ‘effing dog’. On 20 April 2015 he pleaded guilty to a charge of assaulting his former partner Nicole. In 2015 John Setka made a Valentine’s Day video offering advice to male union members on what lingerie they should buy their partners. How about that, Ms Shing? CFMEU New South Wales boss Brian Parker was found to have attempted to intimidate a policewoman on a Barangaroo site in Sydney in 2017.

Harriet Shing: This is Sydney. Can we go to Melbourne? Can we go to Victoria?

Bev McARTHUR: This is an example of how this union behaves towards women.

Members interjecting.

The ACTING PRESIDENT (Jeff Bourman): Order! Mrs McArthur, one moment. It is getting a bit loud. Can we just hold it down, and if we are going to interject, do it from our own places.

Bev McARTHUR: Let us go to Mr Setka. He has got a rap sheet longer than this building. He has been involved in 59 offences, including assaulting police five times, assault by kicking five times, wilful trespass seven times, resisting arrest five times, theft once, attempted theft by deception once, intent to coerce nine times, coercion 10 times and adverse action once. These are serious accusations, but he was convicted of various things. He was sentenced to 60 days jail for contempt of court in 1990 and sentenced to four months jail for contempt of court again in 1990. In relation to entry to the Laverton site, Setka entered the site with three others and attempted to force open a door to a site office and punched and kicked a Leighton employee. Do not tell me about protection of workers – this thuggery from the Victorian division of the CFMEU construction business was threatening and abusing their own workers. He kicked a Leighton employee and threatened another Leighton employee with a steel bar.

Is that good union behaviour? I ask you, Mr Galea, would you support that sort of behaviour? Other incidents involving Mr Setka include a $6000 penalty in the Federal Magistrates Court for threatening behaviour in 2008. Setka told Bovis Lend Lease staff that he would ‘quit my effing job and get you’. When asked by one of the staff, ‘Are you threatening me?’, John Setka replied, ‘I’m not effing threatening; I’m effing promising. I will get you and you,’ at which point he pointed to the two BLL staff. Setka was ordered to pay $6000. Subsequently it was reduced to $3000 on appeal. He threatened a Grocon manager to not give evidence against him in 2003, and we could go on. As if you do not need an inquiry into this egregious behaviour by this particular union but also the complicit behaviour of this government, who have left no stone unturned to protect this abusive –

A member interjected.

Bev McARTHUR: Read the Premier’s statement.

A member interjected.

Bev McARTHUR: An inquiry? Is it open to the public? Are we going to be able to compel witnesses? Will it be any different to the Coate inquiry? It will be a complete farce and a complete waste of money. We need a proper select committee to inquire into this egregious behaviour not only of the division of the CFMEU but of this government’s complicit behaviour with them.

Ryan BATCHELOR (Southern Metropolitan) (16:44): I am pleased to join this lively debate – affray – unto the breach, to discuss Ms Crozier’s motion which seeks to establish a new select committee to inquire into various matters associated with allegations of illegal conduct surrounding actions of the CFMEU construction division in the Victorian building industry. When the allegations were raised in the media through some very extensive investigations by some journalists who have just returned back to work having taken protective industrial action over the last five days with their union, these investigations uncovered some exceptionally serious conduct, some exceptionally serious and potentially criminal conduct – the alleged infiltration of organised crime into the building industry and into parts of the union – and put in front of the community at large serious allegations of criminal conduct that demanded investigation.

I think the crux of the debate that we are having today is: what is the best place to conduct an investigation of alleged criminal activity and alleged criminal behaviour? I think what you saw in the very swift response from the government and from the Premier to those allegations being aired was –

David Davis interjected.

Ryan BATCHELOR: Get into your seat if you are going to interject, Mr Davis.

The ACTING PRESIDENT (Jeff Bourman): Mr Davis, if you are going to interject, do it from your place.

Ryan BATCHELOR: We think the crux of this debate is: what is the most appropriate forum for investigations into alleged criminal behaviour? Absolutely the best place for investigations of alleged criminal behaviour is by Victoria Police –

Members interjecting.

The ACTING PRESIDENT (Jeff Bourman): Order! Both Minister Shing and Mr Davis, this is Mr Batchelor’s time to contribute, so if –

Members interjecting.

The ACTING PRESIDENT (Jeff Bourman): Please do not force me to stand up.

Ryan BATCHELOR: The Premier referred these matters to Victoria Police for investigation. She also referred them to the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission for investigation when she received them. And we have just heard an interjection across the chamber in response to a question that Ms Shing raised as to what Mr Davis did as a local member when he received an email in 2020. He said that he –

David Davis: No, no. It was a different –

Ryan BATCHELOR: Oh, different –

David Davis: I referred the CFMEU to IBAC in April 2023.

Harriet Shing: So not in relation to that matter.

David Davis: No, in relation to the Indigenous matters on sites.

Harriet Shing: On a point of order, Acting President, I just want to withdraw any insinuation that I may have made that Mr Davis had taken action as a local member in 2020 when he received that email. He has in fact clarified that he did not.

David Davis: Further to the point of order, Acting President, I just want to be clear that when I became aware of CFMEU matters with Indigenous community members I did actually refer that to IBAC. IBAC took 14 months to respond.

The ACTING PRESIDENT (Jeff Bourman): Thank you, Mr Davis. There was no point of order. As Minister Shing and you both know, it is not a point to have another go. Can we all keep it quiet and let Mr Batchelor have his remaining 5-and-a-bit minutes.

Ryan BATCHELOR: I think what this exchange over the chamber demonstrates is that there are bodies who are appropriate to receive allegations of criminal and improper conduct in this state – Victoria Police and the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission. Mr Davis, as he says he has done in the past, referred such matters to them for their review – just not the matter he received as an email in 2020, but other things subsequent.

The point of this discussion I think is to illuminate the fact that they are appropriate bodies that should be tasked with the investigation of the allegations of criminal and improper conduct – that is, Victoria Police and IBAC. That is exactly who the Premier referred those matters to when these investigations came to light in the media in recent weeks. But that was not all she did. She asked immediately that the federal government – who hold industrial relations powers in this state, following the decisions of the Kennett government in the 1990s to refer our industrial relations powers to the Commonwealth under the terms of the Commonwealth constitution – allow the Fair Work Commission to conduct reviews of enterprise bargaining agreements entered into, and she also sought action, under the powers that the federal employment workplace relations minister has, to seek to step into the shoes of the construction division of the CFMEU. Former minister Burke and current minister Watt have been very, very clear that the federal government is seeking to use those powers to appoint an administrator to the union to begin the task of cleaning up the registered organisation, so that the union members, who deserve to have a union representing their interests and working in their interests, in fact have one that is doing so.

That action in part was initiated by a request from the Victorian Premier. The Victorian Premier at the time also requested that the national executive of the Labor Party take action to suspend the construction division of the CFMEU from their affiliation to the party here in Victoria, and that was immediately actioned. The Victorian Premier also initiated an independent review of the contracts around the Big Build sites, which will be led by eminent former public servant Greg Wilson. Other speakers in the debate have gone into a lot of detail as to the context of that review and what it is seeking to do. In relation to the anti-bikie laws that are on the books, which they are working on, the Attorney-General and the Premier have both said that where they can be strengthened, they will be. That is all immediate action that has been taken by the Premier, by the Victorian government, following the allegations that have been raised to the appropriate authorities for them to investigate with their full sets of powers. And there are other actions that the federal minister, the new minister taking on the action of the previous minister, is continuing to do.

We know that construction workers in Victoria need a strong union to support them, but they need a clean union to support them. As the Premier said when these allegations were aired in the media, what we are seeing is not unionism, it is thuggery. It is self-interested thuggery that besmirches the good work that so many hardworking union officials do and that so many hardworking union members do first and foremost to keep themselves safe at work and to keep the community safe. It has not been a long time since people died on building sites, and they are not just construction workers who die as a consequence of poor safety practices on building sites. It is not just workers who are –

Members interjecting.

The ACTING PRESIDENT (Jeff Bourman): Order! Please, we are so close to the end. If Mr Batchelor could just continue in relative silence.

Ryan BATCHELOR: Thank you, Acting President. It is not just construction workers who are put at risk by poor safety practices in the building industry; it is also members of the general public who have also lost their lives in this state, in this city, as a result of poor safety practices in the construction industry. This is an issue that affects us all. I do not have time, given all that is in the context of this debate, to go through just how important strengthening safety and strengthening worker protections are and how those opposite’s track record demonstrates that they do not care about that at all. They have got no interest in protecting workers in this state. They have got no interest in making sure that workers’ entitlements are protected and their safety is protected. I cannot go into it in any more detail because I am out of time.

The ACTING PRESIDENT (Jeff Bourman): Mr Welch, you have got just under 2 minutes, so go for it.

Richard WELCH (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (16:54): Thank you, Acting President. I will try to be efficient. I am going to talk about one group that has not been mentioned in this entire debate, and that is the community of Victoria. The community of Victoria are disgusted. They are disgusted at the bullying. They are disgusted at the idea of legitimate business people being thrown off sites. They are disgusted at the coercion. They are disgusted at enterprise bargaining agreements that promote and institutionalise corrupt practice. This would not be tolerated in any other workplace. In fact we would decry it in any other workplace. The community suspected it because they saw on the Big Build and Suburban Rail Loop sites the CFMEU signage going further and being more boldly branded. They knew it when the projects blew out and stories flew around of inflated wages, and they knew it when they saw that they were so emboldened that they could threaten the AFL. Something was very wrong, and for every rumour exposed, the suspicion was that there were 10 more stories to be told. The community suspected it. But guess what, the leadership of the SRL Authority and members of this government knew, and we know they knew. In the private sector CEOs would be forced out and entire boards would resign. You have been caught, and you know you have been caught. You did nothing, and now you admit that you did nothing for two years. It is a cover-up, and it is all too little, too late. There are recordings. There are letters. You cannot hide it. What more did the victims need to do – perhaps make a donation to the Labor Party – in order to be heard?

Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (16:56): It has been a fiery debate because this is a serious issue. It is clear that the government have no intention of being accountable or transparent to the Victorian public and neither do the Greens and those other minor parties that are not supporting this important inquiry. I just want to address a couple of concerns that have been raised. As I said, this inquiry was to look into the nature, extent and impact of misconduct, kickbacks, standover tactics, corruption, waste, intimidation, bribery and the infiltration of criminal elements and any other illegal conduct or misconduct involving the CFMEU or others on Victorian government projects, including the Big Build initiatives. I went on to say this was not about those workers that have been caught up in this. It is not an attack on ordinary CFMEU members.

John Berger interjected.

Georgie CROZIER: They are good, honest people in the CFMEU, and I know some of them. I said that; you obviously were not listening. You just went on about how we were attacking unions. We confined it to the construction division of the CFMEU because it is corrupt. Labor are protecting them and so are the Greens. The Greens welcomed the bold CFMEU plan to fix the housing crisis with corporate super profits, so they are in bed with the CFMEU. Labor takes donations from the CFMEU. Mr McIntosh, who is a member of the CFMEU, was wrong when he said that the final report of the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption found that there is a widespread and deep-seated culture of lawlessness among many union officials. The royal commission revealed allegations involving multiple examples of bribery, extortion and blackmail in the nation’s construction industry. The report listed 79 recommendations to improve the governance of registered organisations, to improve the management of construction worksites across the country and to make unions more transparent and accountable to their members. The royal commission also made 93 referrals for proceedings relating to possible breaches of law; more than half relate to potential criminal prosecutions.

So, yes, there has been a lot done. But under Labor in this state, in Victoria, nothing has been done. You turned a blind eye. As Mr Davis said, he referred to IBAC the issue around Indigenous labour hire workers. He referred that, and it took 14 months for IBAC to come back to him. Mrs McArthur referred that email in 2020 to industrial relations lawyers. There has been a lot more done by this side of the house than your side, who have done nothing. You have covered it up. You shamelessly are in bed with CFMEU. The corruption, the misuse of taxpayers money, has cost the state up towards $40 billion – I say again: $40 billion – in waste and mismanagement, and corruption is caught up in that. It is Victorian taxpayers who are missing out. But worse than that, it is Victorian communities that are missing out. Health, education, law and order, roads, mental health support – all of these things could have been provided with that investment. But no, it has been squandered. Now you have got a cover-up, and we cannot get to the bottom of that as elected officials.

We have got a number of inquiries going on already in this house going to a range of issues: local government funding, cultural and creative industries, climate resilience, the state education system, workplace drug testing, food security, the renewal of Melbourne’s public housing towers as well as the Commonwealth Games bid. These are important inquiries that this house is doing, but by God we should be doing an inquiry into this. If ever the Victorian public wanted us to come into this place and do the work that they elected us to do, it would be to find out about the depth of this corruption, the extent of where it has gone to, how it has impacted on the delivery of projects in this state, and the waste and mismanagement of tens of billions of dollars of taxpayers money. Victorians deserve those answers. They deserve this inquiry, and it is a slap in the face to them that Labor and the Greens are siding to protect their CFMEU mates and not going ahead with supporting this inquiry – the work that this house should be doing. I would just say again it is an important inquiry. It is about corruption. A lot is at stake here – the criminal element, the corruption and the waste of taxpayers money. It needs to be dealt with far more than just with the Mickey Mouse review that the Premier is doing.

Council divided on motion:

Ayes (17): Melina Bath, Jeff Bourman, Gaelle Broad, Georgie Crozier, David Davis, Moira Deeming, Renee Heath, Ann-Marie Hermans, David Limbrick, Wendy Lovell, Trung Luu, Bev McArthur, Joe McCracken, Nick McGowan, Evan Mulholland, Rikkie-Lee Tyrrell, Richard Welch

Noes (21): Ryan Batchelor, John Berger, Lizzie Blandthorn, Katherine Copsey, Enver Erdogan, Jacinta Ermacora, David Ettershank, Michael Galea, Shaun Leane, Sarah Mansfield, Tom McIntosh, Rachel Payne, Aiv Puglielli, Samantha Ratnam, Harriet Shing, Ingrid Stitt, Jaclyn Symes, Lee Tarlamis, Sonja Terpstra, Gayle Tierney, Sheena Watt

Motion negatived.