Wednesday, 29 July 2026

 Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (10:46): I move:

That this house, in accordance with standing order 10.01, requires the Leader of the Government to table in the Council, within 30 days of the house agreeing to this resolution, copies of the following documents:

(1)   the final, unredacted review, report or advice prepared by or involving Mr John Merritt concerning corruption, criminal infiltration, unlawful conduct, industrial misconduct and related probity or governance issues on Big Build or other Victorian government infrastructure worksites;

(2)   all drafts, interim reports, recommendations, appendices, attachments and supporting materials provided by Mr Merritt or any person assisting him;

(3)   all correspondence, including emails, letters and file notes, between Mr Merritt and any minister, ministerial office, department or agency concerning the commissioning, scope, findings, recommendations, release or implementation of the review;

(4)   all briefs, advice, submissions, meeting papers and decision documents provided to or from the Premier, Minister for Transport Infrastructure, Minister for Police, Attorney-General, Department of Premier and Cabinet, Department of Transport and Planning, Major Transport Infrastructure Authority or Victorian Infrastructure Delivery Authority concerning the review’s findings or recommendations, including:

(a) when it was received by government;

(b) any decision not to release it in full;

(c) any proposed redactions, legal concerns or communications strategy;

(d) any delay in accepting, announcing or implementing recommendations;

(e) whether it affected the government’s decision not to establish a royal commission into Big Build corruption; and

(5)   recording implementation plans, timelines, responsible agencies, funding or legislative changes arising from the review.

Nearly six months ago Queensland’s commission of inquiry into the CFMEU blew the lid off Labor’s dirty secret. Redacted sections of Geoffrey Watson SC’s report revealed that $15 billion was ripped from taxpayers’ pockets. Every dollar was siphoned off to criminal elements. Gangsters, bikies, drug dealers, even strippers and organised crime figures enriched themselves while small businesses and families were bled dry. What was once the centrepiece of the Victorian Labor government is now its greatest political liability.

The Herald Sun revealed that the government had quietly commissioned its own secret review into corruption and criminality on Big Build worksites. The review was led by John Merritt, a former senior bureaucrat under Bracks, Brumby and Andrews. So secret was the review that there is not a single reference to it outside of a handful of news reports – not one media release, not one press conference mentioned, not one reference on a Victorian government website. When was it commissioned? We do not know. What were its findings and recommendations? We do not know. Beyond reports of a supply chain register and improved industrial relations fixers, we do not know. Why did they sit on these recommendations for more than six months? We do not know. This was not a review into an obscure administrative failure. It concerned allegations of organised crime, corruption and the misuse of billions of dollars of public money on the largest infrastructure program in Victorian history, yet Labor treated it as a political problem to be concealed rather than a public scandal to be confronted.

We know a handful of ministers were so alarmed that they bypassed the then Premier’s office and implemented parts of the review themselves. These were not the usual cast of disgruntled backbenchers fearful of losing their seats. They were ministers inside cabinet with powerful portfolios and responsibility for major projects. If Labor’s own ministers were sounding the alarm, why were the former and current Premier telling Victorians there was nothing to investigate? Gabrielle Williams directed tier 1 contractors to stop using so-called industrial fixers and established an approved register of consultants. Melissa Horne publicly revealed allegations that pressure had been exerted to remove a subcontractor from the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital redevelopment. These were not anonymous sources or disgruntled backbenchers. These were senior cabinet ministers responsible for delivering Victoria’s biggest infrastructure projects. If Labor’s own ministers were sounding the alarm, why was the government telling Victorians there was nothing to investigate? Yesterday the Premier announced a royal commission, but in March he rejected a royal commission, claiming it will take twice as long and cost twice as much. So which is it? Was a royal commission unnecessary in March, or was Ben Carroll simply unwilling to support one while he remained Deputy Premier? Did the evidence suddenly change overnight, did the corruption suddenly become more serious or did the only thing that change happen to be the identity of the person occupying the Premier’s office?

Mr Carroll wants Victorians to believe that his elevation represents a clean break with the past. He even referenced integrity. But there can be no clean break when the new Premier was a senior author, defender and beneficiary of the old government. We may have a new Premier, but we do not have a new government. For 3½ years this has been the Allan–Carroll Labor government. He cannot now reinvent himself as the independent umpire of a government he helped lead. I challenge the Premier: live up to your name. Backflip Ben – that is your new name. Release the merit report, full and unredacted. Release every briefing, every email, every piece of correspondence associated with it. I commend this motion to the house.

 Ryan BATCHELOR (Southern Metropolitan) (10:52): I am very pleased to get up today and speak to Mrs McArthur’s documents motion on a range of matters, asking for a range of documents, and we will no doubt get to those. What we have got here in the state of Victoria with Ben Carroll and Gabrielle Williams are a Premier and Deputy Premier determined to take Victoria in a new direction to focus this government on the matters that matter most to Victorians – health, education, cost of living, community safety – and to make sure that Victorians know the risks that a Liberal–One Nation government, led by Jess Wilson, propped up by One Nation, pose to this state. That is the choice that is going to confront Victorians in November.

We know they are worried because the Liberal Party primary vote is in freefall. The Resolve poll shows it has dropped by 13 points since December under Jess Wilson’s leadership. And what we have got now are a Premier and a Deputy Premier who very, very clearly on day one said integrity is not optional. The thing those opposite are scared about the most is that they are facing oblivion in November. We have got the plans that Victoria wants and Victorians need to protect them from the cuts that are coming from the Liberals and One Nation working together to undermine this state.

What we have said right from the start is that, yes, there are issues in the construction sector that need to be addressed. That is why the Premier’s first act has been to begin the work –

Members interjecting.

Sonja Terpstra: On a point of order, Acting President, I am sitting right next to Mr Batchelor, and I cannot hear him from the constant loud noise that is coming. Can they just pipe down and let him finish, please. Constant interjections are unruly.

The ACTING PRESIDENT (Michael Galea): It has been a lively debate from both sides, but I will ask interjections to be kept to a minimum.

Ryan BATCHELOR: Which is why the Premier has said that his first act is going to be to call a royal commission into the construction sector, and that is exactly what is now being worked on. He has also said that we are immediately going to establish a special prosecutor that will work in parallel with the royal commission, and he has made very clear statements about introducing legislation on IBAC’s follow-the-money powers.

What we have seen today with this motion that Mrs McArthur has moved is a request for certain documents. As is the practice, the government will not be opposing the documents motion, but in her speech, Mrs McArthur sought to cast a wide range of assertions and make a wide range of claims. What you have got very clearly from this government under this Premier is a steadfast commitment to ensuring that the matters that have existed in our construction sector are examined by a royal commission, which is exactly what he is doing; that the powers that IBAC needs to follow the money are going to be delivered; and that a special prosecutor is being set up to work in parallel with the royal commission so that where there is evidence of wrongdoing those get brought before the courts and have the appropriate legal action taken against them. You can hear the air coming out of the deflated balloon that is the Liberal Party as they realise that Labor is the party that has the plan that Victorians want. It delivers them what they need and have been asking for on integrity, and more importantly, it protects them from the cuts that we know are coming under the Liberals in partnership with One Nation. The cuts are coming, and that is exactly what the Liberals and One Nation will deliver to Victoria if they are elected.

 Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (10:57): I rise to speak on Mrs McArthur’s excellent motion calling for documents, particularly from this hidden Merritt review into Big Build corruption. We all know the Wilson review was a wet lettuce piece, and even the government will practically admit that, even though they have quoted it many times. I just want to speak to Mr Batchelor’s laughable contribution. What he has done now is basically admit that he is not sincere about tackling corruption and does not have a sincere belief in tackling it. What he has basically acknowledged, and I think many of their side have acknowledged, and the Premier has, is that they have changed their view on it because of the opinion polls. They have changed their view on it because of the polls, not a sincere belief in tackling corruption. I do recall Mr Batchelor stridently opposing our private members bill with follow-the-money powers, asking questions and opposing the bill. Again, they were the only party to oppose the bill. And then Mr Batchelor got up and spoke for about 10 to 15 minutes against our motion – which was successfully passed by the upper house – for a royal commission into Big Build corruption.

The Big Build was enabled under this government with the Premier, then transport minister, and with the current Premier Ben Carroll as Jacinta Allan’s deputy. They desperately – all of them – tried to oppose a royal commission. Ms Symes, the Treasurer, the leader of your government in the upper house, said that every construction royal commission has failed, the Premier said it will take too long and cost too much, and then Mr Batchelor would walk in and continue to read Premier’s private office talking points from Jacinta Allan’s office stating that we do not need a royal commission. Well, we do need a royal commission. We have always needed a royal commission, because this government has failed. This government has seen $15 billion fly out the door to crooks, criminals and strippers, and this government thought, ‘Oh, let’s call a Wilson review that says nothing, a wet lettuce review. Let’s do some things that are not going to expose how we completely enabled this to happen.’ Contractors would get calls from the minister’s office saying, ‘Are you going to do a deal with the union? The minister wants to know.’ We know that happened on the Gap Road level crossing removal project in Sunbury. We know that happened with several other projects, where the minister’s office would call a contractor and say, ‘You’re not going to get work on the first stage of the airport rail unless you do a deal over here.’ ‘You’re not going to get work on the North East Link unless this person, that the union does not like, is removed from the site.’ Is it any wonder $15 billion has walked out the door to crooks and criminals? Is it any wonder? I will repeat Mr Batchelor’s quote from earlier this year, where he said:

The appropriate body to deal with allegations of criminal activity in this state of Victoria is Victoria Police. No other body, whether it be the standing royal commission, in the form of IBAC, that we have in this state or another royal commission-like process, is going to – because of the way that those processes work – or is empowered with the same prosecutorial vehicles to bring criminal charges and to arrest people. I think that if you are serious about stopping … behaviour on construction sites, you call the cops, because what the police can do is arrest people and what the police can do is charge people.

Ryan Batchelor interjected.

Evan MULHOLLAND: He is opposing IBAC follow-the-money powers. Mr Batchelor and all of them on the other side of the house have consistently enabled the corruption to happen. They have consistently enabled $15 billion to be fleeced from Victorian taxpayers on construction sites, and now the new Premier – then Deputy Premier to Jacinta Allan – wants to pretend that integrity is not optional. What he is admitting is that under this government, and all the members opposite, integrity has been optional, and for that they should be condemned. I commend this documents motion to the house.

Motion agreed to.