The Victorian government is defending its handling of corruption in the state’s construction sector amid accusations, reportedly made as part of a major corruption investigation, that it was “cowed” by the CFMEU.
The claim, reported by Nine Newspapers, was made in the findings of an investigation into CFMEU corruption commissioned by the federal government.
The findings of the investigation by Geoffrey Watson SC are yet to be publicly released.
Mr Watson is reported to have found the Victorian government “knew about the rising problem — but it is equally clear that the government did nothing about it.”
Watson is reported to have found suggestions the government’s failure to act was due to the close relationship between Labor and the CFMEU was “an inadequate and unsatisfactory explanation”.
“A better explanation is that the government, just like the contractors, had been cowed by the combination of the industrial might of the CFMEU and its willingness to act outside the law,” he is reported to have said.
On Wednesday morning, Victorian Attorney General Sonia Kilkenny would not comment directly on the contents of the report, saying it had not yet been released.
However, she defended the government’s attempts to crack down on corruption in the construction sector.
“You can see from the actions we’ve already taken, when we acted really swiftly to eradicate this kind of rotten culture that was exposed in parts of Victoria’s construction sector,” she told ABC Radio Melbourne.
In his report, Geoffrey Watson SC is reported to have made findings critical of the Victorian government. (ABC News: Billy Cooper)
In his report, Mr Watson also estimated the actions of the CFMEU let to cost blow outs of 15 per cent, describing the figure as a “very rough” estimate.
Nine Newspapers reported that the sections of the report in which Mr Watson was highly critical of the Victorian government were removed by CFMEU administrator Mark Irving.
A spokesperson for the administrator told the newspaper the sections were initially removed because he “was not satisfied that they were well-founded or properly tested.”
The ABC has contacted the administrator for comment.
Attorney General Sonia Kilkenny defended the Victorian government’s actions on corruption in the construction ector. (ABC News)
Ms Kilkenny said the Victorian government did not contribute to the Watson investigation.
“The federal report — the Watson report — is not our report. We haven’t had involvement in its content,” Ms Kilkenny said.
“This government moved swiftly to establish the Wilson review and of course writing to the Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police and to IBAC referring those allegations for investigation.
“It proves we have zero tolerance, absolutely zero tolerance for this kind of conduct and this kind of illegal behaviour and we’re going to get on and eradicate this rotten culture which has been exposed in parts of our construction sector.”
The Wilson review was conducted by senior public sector bureaucrat Greg Wilson, who made eight recommendations in his final report, including the establishment of the new complaints body for the troubled sector, in December 2024.
Victorian federal Liberal MP and Shadow Industrial Relations Minister Tim Wilson said he had concerns about the apparent intervention by the CFMEU administrator in the Watson report.
“This is alarming and deeply concerning and every Victorian should be concerned about the conduct by the CFMEU, the Albanese government’s heads that they appointed to that body and whether taxpayer’s money is being abused,” he told ABC Radio Melbourne.
“It’s pretty distressing when the CFMEU head of the administration is trying to scrub those sections of the report.”