Thursday, 5 March 2026

 James NEWBURY (Brighton) (09:35): I move:

That I introduce a bill for an act to ensure the integrity of government construction projects, to amend the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 and for other purposes.

This week the coalition has released its plan to clean up Victorian government worksites. We have seen each day the coalition seek to move a private members bill in this place to clean up Victorian government worksites, and every single day every Labor member of this place has voted against it. Today we move the third element of our plan of private members bills to seek to clean up government worksites. What this plan will do is make sure today in this bill that those who have been convicted or found guilty of or subject to pending charges for specified serious offences, including organised crime, fraud, intimidation, harassment and certain industrial offences, will not be on Victorian government worksites, because we know that criminals are. We have seen expert evidence confirm that activity on Victorian government worksites has been akin to organised crime – organised crime on our government worksites. What this bill will do is to say that criminals will not be on government worksites.

I would expect and suspect that every Victorian already thinks that is the case. I would think that most Victorians would say, ‘Well, why aren’t our government worksites clean? Why aren’t they?’ That is why we have all been so, frankly, shocked by what is clearly the biggest instance of corruption our state has ever been struck by, under the watch of this government – $15 billion of corrupted taxpayer money – which is why the coalition has said we need a royal commission and we need a royal commission now. We need to get to the bottom of where every dollar has gone, and we need to get it back. But more than that, this week the coalition have announced our plan to go further than simply holding a royal commission to get to the bottom of where the money has gone. Our plan will clean up government worksites. Earlier this week, absolutely shockingly, when we attempted to expand IBAC’s powers every Labor member voted against it.

Roma Britnell interjected.

James NEWBURY: Shame. We have seen the members in the Council and members in this place from the Labor Party vote against powers that our chief anti-corruption agency has asked for and that we have tried to give it as a coalition.

Yesterday the member for Sandringham moved the second plank in our plan to ensure that we have a construction code and enforcement of that code. How could it be that Labor members voted against our anti-corruption agency having those powers and then against having a cop on the beat, frankly, in terms of oversight of construction sites? Today we are seeking to move to ensure that certain criminals are not on government worksites – criminals. I cannot believe I have to say it. I hope with this speech, this attempt to convince the government, that we will see them today come to their senses, because if they vote against this they are saying, ‘We want criminals on government worksites.’ That is what they are saying. If the government do not vote to allow this bill, they are saying, ‘We want criminals on government worksites. We still want them there.’

Mary-Anne Thomas: On a point of order, Speaker, this is a procedural debate, the introduction of a bill. I ask that you ask the member on his feet to come back to the narrow procedural motion.

The SPEAKER: The member’s time has expired. Before I call the next member I remind members – member for Sandringham – that party-political material is not allowed in the chamber.

 Nina TAYLOR (Albert Park) (09:40): Let me put to bed any suggestion that the way we vote on this procedural motion in any way puts forward our position on criminality or otherwise. We know that criminality on any worksite undermines every Victorian worker, and we would urge anyone who has any knowledge of any illegality to report it to the appropriate law enforcement authorities. Furthermore, I would say that the government has taken decisive action. Through Operation Hawk there have already been 70 criminal charges laid. The Labour Hire Authority has cancelled 147 licences.

Will Fowles: On a point of order, Speaker, I am loath to interrupt the member for Albert Park, but just for the benefit of members in the chamber –

Mary-Anne Thomas interjected.

The SPEAKER: Leader of the House!

Will Fowles: For the benefit of members in the – chamber –

The SPEAKER: Member for Ringwood, I ask you not to respond to interjections. What is your point of order?

Will Fowles: I would like some clarification around what you just said about the bringing of political material into the chamber. I think the possession of party-political material –

The SPEAKER: If the member for Ringwood would like to raise this matter after I leave the chair, I am happy to discuss it in my chambers.

Nina TAYLOR: The construction complaints referral service is operational and the culture on worksites is improving. But I will come back to the premise under which we are debating today, and that is that this is strictly a procedural motion. There is much to be discussed in the chamber today, none the least on free TAFE. I can understand why those opposite would not necessarily want to speak to that matter today, but it is important to Victorians because it offers positive pathways into work and opportunities to fulfil all their talents in Victorian workplaces.

 Danny O’BRIEN (Gippsland South) (09:42): I am pleased to rise to support the Manager of Opposition Business on the introduction of the Integrity of Government Construction Projects Bill 2026, and this should not come as any surprise to government members. This is a position that the opposition has had for a number of years now – that we need to ensure that we get crooks off government-funded construction sites. If there is any doubt about why that is important, it should have been laid to rest after the release of the Watson report a couple of weeks ago. It should have been laid to rest by the ‘Building bad’ reports by the Age, 60 Minutes and Channel 9 over the last couple of years. All of these things have been raised repeatedly, highlighting that the Victorian government Big Build projects have been swamped by crooks, criminals and bikies. This is something that should be understood by the Labor government. I hear government members, government ministers, saying, ‘This is a matter for government. We can’t be doing private members bills, it’s government business.’ This is the Parliament of the people of Victoria. The people of Victoria have elected all 88 of us to represent their interests, and the Parliament should be considering legislation like this at a time when we have seen $15 billion of Victorians taxpayer money go missing because the government was asleep at the wheel and allowed the CFMEU to bring on bikies and criminals and gangs.

Mary-Anne Thomas: On a point of order, Speaker, the member on his feet is required to be factual, and in fact he is making speculative comments. I ask that you ask him to be factual.

The SPEAKER: It is a requirement for all members to be factual. I am sure members are already responding to the spirit of standing order 58.

Danny O’BRIEN: It is extraordinary that the government on the one hand are saying ‘We’re doing this, we’re acting , we’re responding’ and on the other hand are saying that all the allegations that we are raising are unfactual. Which is it, government members? Which is it? Do they accept that there is corruption happening on government worksites or not? Because the evidence has been pretty clear for a number of years now. That is what this legislation is about. This is the third piece of legislation we have moved this week to try and clean up Victoria. We have moved this week to try and give IBAC the powers that it wants, the follow-the-dollar powers, to go beyond government agencies and into the private sector and to third parties to ensure that we can follow the dollar. What did Labor do? They opposed that. Yesterday we brought in the legislation for Construction Enforcement Victoria. We committed to that two years ago and to bringing back the code of practice. If you are going to have a code of practice in the building and construction industry, you need to have a watchdog to enforce that. That is what that legislation was about. Government once again opposed it. Here today is now the third tranche of legislation which we think is needed to ensure that we are delivering on the concerns of Victorians when it comes to the Big Build project and to ensure that we do not have crooks, bikies and criminal bosses working on and benefiting from government contracts on government projects. We have seen –

Jess Wilson interjected.

Danny O’BRIEN: It is not a lot to ask, Leader of the Opposition. I would have thought it would be fairly straightforward. I would have thought that perhaps the people of Victoria are pretty keen to see us actually get to the bottom of where this $15 billion has gone and who has been responsible for siphoning it off to criminals and bikies, and yet we have got the government members not interested. They are not interested in doing this. They say, ‘Oh, we fixed all that.’ We have got the Premier who says, ‘I wrote a letter to IBAC and said they should investigate this – job done.’ IBAC wrote back and said, ‘I’m sorry, Premier. We can’t; you haven’t given us the powers to do so.’ What does the government do? When we moved this week to give IBAC those powers, the government opposed them, and yet we are told Victorians are meant to believe that this government is serious about cracking down on corruption on Big Build building projects. It is just an extraordinary situation that the Labor government is not prepared to act on these issues. We hear government ministers say, ‘This is the government’s time. The opposition should sit down.’ This is the Parliament of Victoria doing the job that the Labor government refuses to do. The Labor government is refusing to act on the $15 billion of corruption, the $15 billion to criminals on worksites and the state-sponsored strippers and the action by people to try and coerce businesses. This legislation is critical. We should be debating it today to ensure that government worksites are clean. We know we want to clean up Victoria. It seems the Labor government wants to keep covering it up.

 Sarah CONNOLLY (Laverton) (09:47): I too rise to make a contribution on this procedural debate. I have to say, just when you think those opposite could not be bothered to turn up to their own circus, they are all sitting here today to talk about the introduction of a private members bill when yesterday they had the opportunity, with the member for Caulfield, to talk about a matter of public importance on exactly this same thing, and none of them turned up, not even the Leader of the Opposition, to talk about this. This is how disinterested and fake and confected the outrage from those opposite actually is.

Matthew Guy interjected.

The SPEAKER: The member for Bulleen will leave the chamber for half an hour.

Member for Bulleen withdrew from chamber.

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker – relevance.

The SPEAKER: The member for Laverton to speak to the procedural debate, please.

Sarah CONNOLLY: Well, there is the fall guy pulling out another stunt to protect those opposite from the ridiculous confected outrage –

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, I am deeply distressed that the allegation was put on you – deeply distressed.

The SPEAKER: Thank you for your distress on my behalf.

Sarah CONNOLLY: Do not worry, Speaker. It is only confected and fake – imaginary – by those opposite.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Laverton will speak to the motion before the house.

Sarah CONNOLLY: The introduction of this private members bill and this procedural debate here before the house is just another example of why those opposite deserve to sit on that side of the chamber. You had the opportunity yesterday, every single one of you.

The SPEAKER: Member for Laverton, through the Chair.

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, this is now continual in terms of the behaviour of the member – on relevance. I would say the member has strayed so far they are not making a contribution that the house actually needs.

The SPEAKER: Order! I have ruled on this matter. Member for Laverton, if you cannot speak to the procedural debate, I will sit you down.

Sarah CONNOLLY: The procedural debate is absolutely ridiculous. We should be getting on and debating the government business program for the day, which is determined by this side of the house because we are in government. The bills before the house that are being debated by this side of the house today are exactly what the Victorian public want us to bring to this place as part of our legislative reform agenda, and I will not waste the house’s time any further.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! Members will cease interjecting when members are on their feet. It is very disrespectful. We are all wearing ribbons this week for a reason.

 Brad BATTIN (Berwick) (09:50): I note the comment there that procedural debates are ridiculous. This comes from a government that wants to be a dictator rather than listening to the entire community, because these procedural debates are about putting legislation onto the government business program. As the member for Gippsland South has said, it is so important that every person in here, all 88, has a voice. The reality is what we are trying to put on the government business program today is a bill, the Integrity of Government Construction Projects Bill 2026,. Why is it important? Why is it important that it is on the business program? We talk about the $15 billion that has been lost; that is something that is essential. We talk about the corruption that has happened here in Victoria. We talk about the Watson report. You would think that Labor might want to back this for one reason: because everybody deserves, and should have, a safe workplace. The more corruption and coercion and violence we have on our worksites, the more that the tradies who go to work cannot feel safe.

Members interjecting.

Brad BATTIN: I note that they are trying to yell me down as I stand up for the tradies, because guess what, it is the tradies that are contacting us that are sick and tired of this on their worksites. I note, as I said, dictators love to yell down, and they yell – it is like being out in the street at a protest when you see a lot of those lefties in your face and they are just yelling and yelling with nothing to say. It is kind of sounds like the manager of government business there – just having a go right in your face. But the reality is they have nothing to say because they do not believe what they are saying. They just do not believe it, because the reality is at the moment in Victoria we need to clean up construction across the whole state.

We need to clean up the corruption that has happened under Labor for the last 10 years, because the current Premier, who was minister, has overseen this and ignored the issues for far too long. If the government will not do it, we will. We will clean up Victoria. The member for Pakenham would know because the member for Pakenham has had emails sent to her, as well as the minister and the Premier, from organisations, particularly a company in Officer which lost $21 million because of corruption in this state. They had to sack every single staff member in their business. A company that had received awards for engineering in this state went broke; they went under. Why? Because the corruption that was seen was ignored by this government and it destroyed the soul of that business.

I have sat with the owners of that business. I have sat with them and seen exactly what happened when union thugs came onto the sites. They imposed provisional improvement notices and stop-work meetings because someone was sitting on the wheel of their tractor. You know who was sitting on the wheel? It was the union rep who was writing up the PIN to close down that site because they would not deal with Mick Gatto; it is as simple as that. They would not pay $300,000 to Gatto’s organisation to ensure that they were protected. These allegations, the minister might say, were referred. They were referred, and the minister at the time came into this place and defended it and said ‘There’s nothing to see here.’ That is why you need to have this legislation in place. You need to have IBAC with the powers to investigate ministers who ignore it and who effectively oversee corruption in this state.

The Premier of this state is the reason that this corruption has increased to the level it has today; it is as simple as that. This Premier was the minister who ignored the calls from too many: from Indigenous organisations, from businesses across the state, from tradies who want to have a safe workplace, from businesses who continually get hounded and pushed aside and from journalists, including Nick McKenzie who has gone out there and found more evidence and yet was totally ignored. Let me assure you the reason that this is more important than ever is because under a Wilson government we will ensure that this legislation is introduced, that the money can be followed and that any person who is involved in corruption – I do not care what level, I do not care what their colours in politics – will be caught and will be dealt with. Because the reality is when you continue to let it go down the path that it is today, not only do the crooks benefit from this but the trades miss out on opportunities and Victorians miss out on funding for things like schools, roads, extra police, nurses, hospitals and education – all of these things miss out. When you have an incompetent government, that is one thing, but when you have a government that ignores corruption, it is time to change that government and fix the problem once and for all.

 Nathan LAMBERT (Preston) (09:55): I rise to make a brief contribution opposing the procedural motion by the member for Brighton. I will oppose it for similar reasons that I and other government members put forward on Tuesday when he moved a very similar motion. As we made clear then, these are important issues, there are proper ways to address them and this is not such a way. Perhaps while I am on my feet I will also repeat a point that I made on Tuesday, which is that there are also proper ways to do quantitative analysis. There is a stat, I think the member for Murray Plains used it most recently, that 47 per cent of the cost of a house in this state is taxes, and it is the most ridiculous statistic you have ever heard if you know anything about housing or taxes. But I feel this $15 billion figure that gets thrown around now has trumped that for having absolutely no substantial analytic basis. I oppose the procedural motion by the member for Brighton.

Assembly divided on motion: