Official probe into CFMEU links rejected by premier
Calls for a royal commission into CFMEU corruption that has “permanently” damaged Victoria’s economy have been rejected by the prime minister.
Jacinta Allan also questioned a damning report’s claim that massive project budget blowouts caused by abuses at the CFMEU cost Victorian taxpayers $15 billion.
The Victorian premier appeared before the media on Thursday for the first time since an explosive report claimed the Victorian branch of the CFMEU, under former boss John Setka, had become a criminal organization while the state government did nothing.
The findings by barrister Geoffrey Watson SC claimed worksites had become drug distribution centres, killers were given high-paying jobs and strippers performed for night crews after organized crime infiltrated the union.
Mr Watson said on Thursday the damage to the Victorian economy from CFMEU corruption could be endless.
He made the concession when asked about his report, titled Rotting from the Top, which named former union officials Setka and Joe Myles, as well as Victorian underworld figure Mick Gatto, as malefactors.
Mr Watson wrote in his report: “This report will include many examples of Gatto’s criminal behaviour.
“Gatto damaged the construction industry and damaged, perhaps permanently, the Victorian economy.”
Asked by Queensland’s investigation into abuses in the construction industry whether this was an exaggeration, Mr Watson said: “Not at all.”
Victoria’s $100 billion Big Building According to the report, this incident under Premier Daniel Andrews was the catalyst for Setka’s CFMEU to become a “violent, hateful and greedy rabble” due to years of ignoring by the state government.
Ms Allan was the minister responsible for transport infrastructure during Setka’s administration of the CFMEU.
On Thursday, the prime minister apologized to construction workers in the state for the “rotten culture that exists”, saying some of the allegations in the report were absolutely sickening.
But he rejected the need for a royal commission into the CFMEU’s duties or a referral to the state corruption watchdog.
Ms Allan said the state government had immediately cracked down on the union in mid-2024 as soon as it became aware of allegations of misconduct, and insisted all the CFMEU’s “bad actors” had been eliminated.
“I want to make it absolutely clear that I and my government have zero tolerance for this alleged behavior,” he told reporters at a tense media conference.
“When the allegations against me came to the fore during my time as a minister, I forwarded the allegations to the relevant authorities.”
He also rejected the report’s estimate that major project budget blowouts caused by CFMEU corruption had cost Victorian taxpayers $15 billion.
“This is an allegation that the administrator has said has not been well tested or properly founded, so let’s be clear that this is not a substantiated claim by the administrator,” he said.
Pages of the report deemed highly damaging to the Victorian Labor government were initially redacted at the request of CFMEU executive Mark Irving KC.
But the deleted episodes were uncovered and released by the Queensland commission of inquiry on Wednesday.
Victoria’s shadow attorney general, James Newbury, wrote to the state corruption watchdog on Thursday demanding an urgent investigation into the findings and deleted sections of Mr Watson’s report.
“The corruption uncovered so far is such that it is the worst ever seen in the history of our country,” he wrote in a letter seen by AAP.
The Victorian corruption watchdog has been contacted for comment.
The report’s conclusions came as former CFMEU official and cyclist Joel Leavitt, 32, was arrested along with two other men on Thursday.
Detectives on a taskforce investigating criminal behavior linked to the construction industry made the arrests following allegations of $663,000 being claimed from a West Melbourne property on January 19.
Mr Levitt, a patched member of the Bandidos, was described in Mr Watson’s report as “a ruthless criminal with a poor criminal record”.
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