Thursday, 5 March 2026

 Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (12:00): My question is to the Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop. How many M Group companies, a business connected to Mick Gatto, are working on the SRL project?

 Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, Minister for Housing and Building, Minister for Development Victoria and Precincts) (12:01): Thank you, Mr Mulholland, for your question and your interest in Australia’s largest housing project that is occurring notwithstanding your 23 positions now, I think, on this particular project and your prevarication on what it means to pause and to review this project, because we all know what ‘pause and review’ means, Mr Mulholland – it means ‘stop’. It means sacking thousands of workers. It means letting tunnel-boring machines sink into the ground. It means that there will not be anybody working on a project. You do not like the truth, do you, Mr Mulholland?

Evan Mulholland: On a point of order, President, on relevance, there was no preamble to this question. It was simply: how many M Group companies, a business connected to Mick Gatto, are working on the SRL project?

The PRESIDENT: The reason I hesitated before I called the minister is the level of detail of any company that is aligned with any individual on a very large project–

Members interjecting.

The PRESIDENT: Let me finish. The level of detail, again, has been the subject of rulings by a number of previous Presidents. That is the bit that concerns me: the expectation of a minister in response to a question without notice, which would be served much better with a question on notice. But the minister is prepared to reply, and I will call the minister.

Harriet SHING: Thank you very much, Mr Mulholland. As I was saying, this is a project that we have only ever had one position on, and that is: we are building it. We are building it with the benefit of the work, the contribution, the expertise and the dedication of tens of thousands of workers. These are workers who have high levels of expertise, and these are workers who are also deserving of terms and conditions that are safe and that are appropriate. We will never take a backward step from that, and that is why the independent agency the Labour Hire Authority has been undertaking work for months now and has in fact suspended, at last count, I think about 147 different companies and is in the process of continuing its work to understand the level and the extent to which contracting businesses are complying with the law.

Now, Mr Mulholland, again, I just want to say really, really clearly that should you or anybody else have any allegations or concerns about criminal, unlawful, unsafe or otherwise inappropriate conduct that may be occurring on any construction site, I would urge you or anybody else to get in touch with any number of different bodies: the construction complaints referral service, the Labour Hire Authority or Victoria Police. Again, the independent administrator has also taken action to make sure that individuals named in that report are no longer working for the union and those companies identified are no longer with licences. Mr Mulholland, it is always good to be able to take this opportunity before I do answer the question by saying that: I am advised that there are none.

 Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (12:04): Corruption on Victorian government projects has cost the Victorian taxpayer $15 billion and exposed thousands of workers to organised criminals at their places of work. How many companies have been suspended from the SRL sites?

The PRESIDENT: I do not know how that is in line with the substantive question. There is the question about one company. It did not even mention – I do not think it was mentioned – what you have asked for in the supplementary. The reason I hesitate is because everyone, in the next term and the term after, wherever they are sitting, would not want precedents set by me that are not in line with what has been set in the house for decades. But ministers are always happy to assist, so I will call the minister.

 Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, Minister for Housing and Building, Minister for Development Victoria and Precincts) (12:05): Thank you very much, Mr Mulholland. Had you been listening to the answer that I gave to the substantive question, you would have heard very clearly about the work that the Victorian Labour Hire Authority is undertaking – again, 147 different organisations. Operation Hawk I think is continuing to make arrests – in fact I think there were arrests just yesterday, Mr Mulholland, as that work continues: around 70 charges laid against individuals. Again, these are the actual actions that are taking place, Mr Mulholland, rather than the unfounded and untested assertions upon which you have based an entire narrative about what is occurring on or around construction sites in Victoria. Mr Mulholland, if you or anybody else has any specific allegation to make about criminal, unlawful or otherwise inappropriate conduct that may be occurring on construction sites, I would urge you to take the relevant action: Victoria Police, construction complaints referral, WorkSafe or anybody else.