Thursday, 18 June 2026

 Danny O’BRIEN (Gippsland South) (14:28): My question is to the Premier. Public reporting shows senior figures in the CFMEU and ETU view a royal commission into the Big Build as a greater existential threat than Labor’s polling. Is it the case that the Premier refuses to call a royal commission because it would damage her friends in the CFMEU and ETU?

 Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:29): The answer is no, and I will explain to the Leader of the National Party again why the answer to his question is no. It is because we have taken immediate action. As a result of that immediate action and strengthening police powers and strengthening the Labour Hire Authority’s powers, we are seeing, through the work of Taskforce Hawk, that police have laid more than 88 charges. The work of the Labor Hire Authority has cancelled over 150 construction industry licences and is cleaning up what I acknowledge is a culture that needs to be cleaned up. We have zero tolerance for these allegations of criminal behaviour, which is why immediate action was needed and demanded, and that is what we have taken.

On the calls for a royal commission by the leaders of the National Party and the Liberal Party, I remind them too that we have already had a royal commission in this country on these matters. It took years, there were tens of millions of dollars expended and what we saw from that was that the only one charge was a good behaviour bond. What we are focused on is taking immediate action to clean up a culture that needs to be cleaned up. I have got zero tolerance for these allegations of criminal behaviour, and that is why we are focused on taking this action and, importantly too, recognising that workers on these worksites deserve safe and secure worksites and not being gone after, like the Liberal–National parties want to do. They want to go after workers and go after their wages. We are going after the criminal elements who want to undermine the work of workers, and that is why we have taken the action we have taken.

 Danny O’BRIEN (Gippsland South) (14:31): Can the Premier guarantee that neither she nor her office have given the CFMEU, the ETU or their representatives any assurance that her government will oppose a royal commission into corruption on the Big Build in exchange for their support?

 Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:31): There are countless occasions where I have made clear our position on a royal commission. That is why we have made it absolutely clear, which is why I can answer that to the Leader –

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, the Premier is debating a straightforward question.

The SPEAKER: I cannot tell the Premier how to answer the question.

Jacinta ALLAN: The Leader of the National Party’s question is wrong, and what I was going through is that I have made my position and my government’s position clear on the public record on a number of occasions.

Danny O’Brien: On a point of order, Speaker, the Premier is debating the question. It is a very clear yes or no, Premier.

The SPEAKER: I believe the Premier has answered the question.

Jacinta ALLAN: I am going on to make the point clear that we on this side of the house will always back workers with safer workplaces, which is why we have taken immediate action strengthening Victoria Police’s powers and strengthening the Labour Hire Authority, and we are seeing that that action is working, through charges, through licences being cancelled and, most importantly too, what we are hearing from workers themselves about how the culture in workplaces is changing. That is the immediate action that workers need and deserve, and that is where our focus will remain.