Victoria’s Big Build
David SOUTHWICK (Caulfield) (14:16): My question is to the Minister for Transport Infrastructure. The Australian Workers’ Union alleges that the Labor government’s Big Build sites are plagued with corruption and that builders not affiliated with the CFMEU are blocked from contracts, even when they offer lower costs. Why is the government signing contracts on Big Build sites that include higher costs just to placate the CFMEU?
Danny PEARSON (Essendon – Minister for Transport Infrastructure, Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, Assistant Treasurer, Minister for WorkSafe and the TAC) (14:17): I thank the Deputy Leader of the Opposition for the question, and I do note that the deputy leader indicated this morning that he was going to refer these matters on to IBAC. What I can advise the house is that the secretary of the Australian Workers’ Union wrote to me in January making a number of allegations about the procurement process on the Pakenham roads upgrade. My office immediately referred these matters on to the MTIA’s legal and integrity unit, which is an independent team within the MTIA, who took an intensive investigation. The MTIA’s legal and integrity unit determined that the procurement process was compliant and that no further action was taken. The letter canvassed a range of issues, as the member would know.
In relation to the question about the industrial relations matters, those are matters for the companies involved. Companies make a determination as to whether they choose to engage with the CFMEU, whether they choose to engage with the AWU, whether they choose to engage with another party, and over the course of a number of years a number of different contracts have gone to different companies that have different arrangements in place. It is entirely appropriate that those industrial relations matters are managed by the companies involved. What I would say is that my expectation is that everyone behaves properly and appropriately at all times and that all people obey the law of the land.
David SOUTHWICK (Caulfield) (14:18): Workers on Big Build sites report being targeted and harassed if they are not part of the CFMEU. What action will the minister take to stop AWU members from being harassed on CFMEU-run Big Build sites?
Danny PEARSON (Essendon – Minister for Transport Infrastructure, Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, Assistant Treasurer, Minister for WorkSafe and the TAC) (14:19): What I would say to the Deputy Leader of the Opposition is that an allegation was made to me, and I acted on it by referring it on to the department and asked the integrity advisors to go through that. They indicated that there were no anomalies with the tender processes involved. What I would say –
David Southwick: On a point of order, Speaker, I would ask if you could bring the minister to answering the question. This is not about tenders, this is about the members not feeling safe on work sites. I would ask you to bring the minister back to answering the question.
The SPEAKER: The minister was being relevant to the question.
Danny PEARSON: If anyone has got allegations to make, then they should make them, and these should be made to the appropriate agencies. As I have indicated, allegations were raised with me. I immediately got my office to pass those allegations on to the department. They were investigated by the integrity unit within the MTIA, and they indicated that the allegations made in the letter written by the secretary of the AWU could not be substantiated.