Tuesday, 3 March 2026

 Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (12:12): My question is to the Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop. Minister, in the Australian Financial Review the Australian Workers’ Union expressed concern about your government’s decision to allow CFMEU-backed labour hire firms to run rampant on SRL sites. Will you direct the Suburban Rail Loop Authority to provide all subcontractor, payroll and ownership data to the Victorian Infrastructure Delivery Authority to properly vet to ensure that no bikie-affiliated firms are receiving taxpayer funds?

 Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, Minister for Housing and Building, Minister for Development Victoria and Precincts) (12:12): Mr Mulholland, thank you for your new-found interest in the role that unions play in negotiating fair and safe terms and conditions across worksites around the state. It is really important –

Members interjecting.

Harriet SHING: And it is telling that you do not even want to hear the answer, because you do not want to hear about how we know that in a dangerous sector involving dangerous work, workers are paid through negotiated collective agreements that reflect the value and the technical nature of their work in building the infrastructure that your communities rely upon every single day. Whether that is large-scale transport infrastructure or whether that is the 88 level crossings that have been removed to date, we know that it takes workers to build that work, and these projects have delivered tens of thousands of jobs for people who then get the benefit of a career in building and in construction.

Apparently everybody is a new-found expert on the way in which various rules apply for coverage as it relates to union engagement in the negotiation and resolution of collective agreements. Unions will have their own views on how it is that workplace arrangements and rules apply to them, and there is a well-trodden path to the independent umpire, the Fair Work Commission.

Members interjecting.

The PRESIDENT: Do not bother asking the question. Seriously, do not bother, because you cannot hear the answer.

Members interjecting.

The PRESIDENT: Spare me. The person who asked the question may want to hear it.

Harriet SHING: It is a real shame that you do not actually want to hear about the way in which these major projects are being delivered in a way that also affords those workers fair and safe terms and conditions that reflect the value of what they do. As I had begun to indicate, Mr Mulholland, before you and your colleagues decided that a cacophony was a better way to go with question time than actually listening to the answer, there is a well-trodden path to the independent umpire, the Fair Work Commission, which is charged under the Fair Work Act with the capacity to understand, to interpret and to rule on the way in which various coverage matters apply under the industrial relations system.

Mr Mulholland, you would also be well aware that, having referred the vast majority of our industrial relations powers to the Commonwealth, it is appropriate that the federal body and that federal pathway under the national system are the pathway by which we actually advance these matters for resolution.

Evan Mulholland: On a point of order, on relevance, President, VIDA does have probity functions, and my question went to whether the minister would refer the subcontractor and ownership data to VIDA to make sure there were no bikie-affiliated firms on SRL sites. That is what the question was, and the minister has not come near that in her answer.

The PRESIDENT: I believe the minister is being responsive to the question.

Harriet SHING: Mr Mulholland, the way in which you have asked that question and raised that point of order indicates very clearly that you are happy to call the 30,000 workers in construction who are members of the CFMEU criminals. If that is what you are saying, then have the guts to stand up and say it. The independent administrator has been very clear that everybody named in that report no longer works for that organisation. It was placed into administration in order to clean it up. That is exactly what is happening. If you are aware of any issues of criminality or illegal contact or conduct, please refer them to the relevant authorities.

 Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (12:16): Subcontractors have literally been kicked off SRL sites for demanding bribes and taking bribes. Minister, AWU Victoria secretary Ronnie Hayden is quoted as saying:

The consortium wants a clause limited to labour hire only, which would effectively give them a green light to engage any subcontractor without scrutiny, including those affiliated with the CFMEU.

Minister, have you received any advice that substantiates Ronnie Hayden’s and the AWU’s warning about a green light for unvetted subcontractors on the Suburban Rail Loop?

 Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, Minister for Housing and Building, Minister for Development Victoria and Precincts) (12:17): Thank you, Mr Mulholland. What I will say to you – and it has been said in this chamber before and it has been said across this place before, and I think we need to continue to say it – is that the Victorian Labour Hire Authority is in the position to be able to get right into these matters in relation to the work of contractors and subcontractors, the standards that apply, the fit and proper person test, and the way in which we have also legislated to prevent outlaw motorcycle gang members from entering worksites, and they are in a position to be removed by Victoria Police should they attend a site. Steve Dargavel is doing a power of work, including with a range of others, as it relates to the delivery of major projects, including the Suburban Rail Loop. That work goes on alongside the work in Operation Hawk – 69 charges, 15 people – the independent administrator who is conducting this work. Again, you are very happy to ignore what is happening in favour of the rabbit holes you are going down to make sure that you are casting every worker in construction as a criminal.

David Davis: On a point of order, President, the minister is clearly debating the question. It was a very simple, straightforward question. She has now moved to a serious debate about the matter and is not answering the question.

The PRESIDENT: How would I know? I cannot hear her. I listened to the start of the minister’s answer when I could kind of hear her, and she has been relevant to the question she has been asked. I will ask the minister if she wants to continue for her last 6 seconds.

David Davis: I accept if you cannot hear, but I did hear what she was saying. She was in a broad ramble, a debate, and not answering the question. I accept you may not have been able to hear clearly, but you may be able to look at the transcript later.

The PRESIDENT: I am not too sure what difference that would make, but I am always happy to look at any transcript anyone invites me to look at.

Harriet SHING: To describe workers terms and conditions as a broad ramble, Mr Davis, speaks volumes to the way in which you hold them – in no regard whatsoever.

David Davis: On a point of order, President, again the minister is debating the question and not answering the question directly. It was a very narrow question.

The PRESIDENT: No, I did say that I believed in the part of her answer I could hear she was relevant to the question.

 Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (12:19): I move:

That the minister’s answer be taken into account on the next day of meeting.

Motion agreed to.