Tuesday, 17 February 2026

 Nicole WERNER (Warrandyte) (19:06): (1521) My adjournment matter is for the Attorney-General, and the action I seek is for her to establish a royal commission into the CFMEU’s corruption. The people of Victoria work hard. They pay their taxes, and they expect their money to be spent wisely, not poured into the pockets of criminals and gangland figures in the worst corruption scandal in the history of Victoria.

An independent corruption report has exposed that this government’s brazen corruption has cost Victorians a staggering, eye-watering $15 billion. That equates to a $5000 corruption tax paid by every single household in this state, all while there is a cost-of-living crisis and when we know that families are saving every dollar that they can, when they know that every single dollar counts, when households are making decisions about whether or not they can even afford to buy insurance this year, when they are trying to buy things on special when they go to the grocery store just to make that budget stretch a little bit further and when they choose not to turn on the aircon on a hot day just to keep their power bills down. These are the everyday decisions Victorians are making because we are in a cost-of-living crisis, and they know that every dollar counts.

But this is not the case for the Allan Labor government, who recklessly waste money that is not theirs to line the pockets of criminals and crooks. How is that – the Labor government is using taxpayers money to fund crime and criminal activity in our state. This same corruption report exposes how government worksites were turned into drug distribution dens. It details the employment of a convicted killer as a health and safety worker. It details state-funded strippers being paid to entertain onsite; extortion, bribery and corruption galore; and women being forced to perform sex acts to get a job onsite. It also talks about gangland figures driving around in Ferraris and Lamborghinis that the Victorian taxpayer paid for. This is corruption that belongs in a Third World country, not here in our great state of Victoria.

The corruption expert that investigated all this said that he has ample evidence that the Premier knew exactly what was happening and looked the other way. In any other time in history, if this happened in any place in Australia, the Premier would apologise, would show remorse and would step down – but not here under the corrupt and rotten Allan Labor government. Victorians deserve a royal commission, and I call on the Attorney-General to establish a royal commission now. Tell us where that $15 billion has gone and give Victorians the answers they deserve.