Jacinta Allan’s own department repeatedly sought to warn her that an aggressive construction union campaign to take over traffic control on Victoria’s major projects could alone inflate costs on the Big Build by more than $400 million.
uncertain
campaign → seek → million
The royal commission into the state’s building industry on Monday heard warning briefings were prepared for Allan, who was in 2022 and 2023 the minister responsible for transport infrastructure, from around the time the Construction, Forestry and Manufacturing Employees Union (CFMEU) seized control of a level crossing removal project in Sunbury, north-west of Melbourne.
asserted
Union → hear → Melbourne
The CFMEU had disrupted work and insisted the consortium on the Gap Road level crossing removal project employ the union’s preferred labour hire company, despite the consortium’s warnings to the government that costs would blow out.
asserted
costs → disrupt → government
During the first day of a 10-day block of hearings, evidence including phone calls, emails, internal company memorandums and ministerial briefs detailed how the CFMEU wrested industrial control of the $110 million project by unlawfully shutting it down, while the rail alliance’s urgent pleas for intervention from Victoria Police and statutory body WorkSafe had no effect.
asserted
pleas → include → effect
The hearing was told that in June 2022, union officials pushed past security and shut down the project for 36 hours during a critical phase, and also threatened workers they would “smash” them if they did not down tools.
asserted
they → tell → tools
The commission heard building company John Holland, the contractors at Gap Road, already believed the CFMEU had “unprecedented access” to ministers and deep influence within the Andrews government when it submitted in 2022 to the union’s demand to seize control of the project.
asserted
it → hear → project
John Holland prepared a series of memorandums for senior management and its board between 2017 and 2021, detailing its view that the CFMEU was powerfully influential within the then-Andrews government, that this influence was unlikely to diminish, and that the company’s engagement with the union “should be seen as part of a broader strategy to better position our business with the state government”.
asserted
engagement → prepare → government
“The premier [Daniel Andrews] is factionally aligned with the socialist left, and the CFMEU is the key industrial organisation involved in that faction,” one memo read.
asserted
memo → align → faction
“We also understand the CFMEU has unprecedented access to ministers and other key Victorian government stakeholders.”
asserted
CFMEU → understand → ministers
The construction company said in a separate but related memorandum that a CFMEU regional agreement on projects “means all projects are forever forced to change the way they work”.
asserted
they → say → way
“It impacts everything from current and future tenders to our day-to-day operations.
asserted
It → impact → operations
It would forgo management prerogative on matters such as, but not limited to, employment and subcontractor selection,” the memo said.
asserted
memo → forgo → employment
The CFMEU’s takeover of traffic management at Gap Road set off public service warnings about the implications if that were repeated across the Big Build.
asserted
that → set → Build
According to briefings prepared by the former major transport infrastructure authority for Allan in 2022 and 2023, when she was the minister who oversaw transport infrastructure, that cost would stretch beyond $400 million.
uncertain
cost → accord → million
Allan succeeded Andrews as premier in September 2023.
asserted
Allan → succeed → September
The cost to the taxpayer of the CFMEU’s conduct has been highly politically contentious after corruption-busting barrister Geoffrey Watson, SC, this year estimated the lawlessness had inflated the Big Build’s pricetag by $15 billion.
asserted
lawlessness → bust → billion
Allan had also repeatedly claimed she was not aware of widespread issues within the Big Build before this masthead’s investigation with 60 Minutes was first published in 2024.
asserted
investigation → claim → 2024
One briefing stated rates for traffic controllers under the CFMEU’s alternative agreement were “70-90 per cent higher than the current rates”.
asserted
rates → state → rates
“The cumulative high-level impact for projects converting current traffic management industry rates to CFMEU terms and conditions is estimated to be well in excess of $400 million,” the briefing said.
asserted
briefing → convert → million
Four days after the CFMEU’s takeover of Gap Road, the rail alliance building the project awarded a traffic management package to a company named CCL, without a competitive tender, for just over $2 million.
asserted
alliance → build → million
CCL’s hourly rates were “roughly double” those of the company it replaced, the royal commission heard.
asserted
commission → replace → company
The commission was established following this masthead’s Building Bad investigative series which revealed criminal infiltration of the CFMEU and widespread misconduct on government projects.
asserted
which → establish → projects
The inquiry’s first block of hearings will focus on the Gap Road project in Sunbury, and a two-day work stoppage in June 2022 during which the CFMEU wrested control of the project from the Australian Workers’ Union (AWU), following a meeting at the CFMEU Melbourne headquarters.
asserted
CFMEU → focus → headquarters
Gap Road was built by an alliance that included John Holland and CPB Contractors, who, the commission heard, agreed at the June 7, 2022 meeting to give the CFMEU control of the site and to employ the union’s preferred labour hire company.
asserted
commission → build → company
Chris Young, KC, the counsel assisting the royal commission, noted that while work on Gap Road resumed at 6pm on June 7, 2022, immediately following a meeting at CFMEU headquarters between four rail alliance representatives and two union officials, no record of what was said or agreed has been found.
“
asserted
what → assist → representatives
There’s no letter recording what was agreed,” he said.
asserted
he → ’ → ?
Tendered correspondence reveals the rail alliance appealed to Victoria Police and WorkSafe during the two-day work stoppage and that workers on site were allegedly warned not to work or face repercussions.
uncertain
workers → tender → repercussions
Notes from a rail alliance meeting at the time say: “Two union officials left and went straight through the security guards and pushed through them ...
asserted
officials → say → them
We’ve lost time, and the unions are now on to the light towers.
asserted
unions → lose → towers
“We spoke to WorkSafe.
asserted
We → speak → WorkSafe
WorkSafe has asked for a set of dot points.
asserted
WorkSafe → ask → points
CFMEU are putting pressure … not to work tonight.
asserted
CFMEU → put → pressure
They said you guys better not turn up tonight, otherwise we will smash you during the day.”
asserted
we → say → day
Appeals to Victoria Police to intervene did not help, according to notes from a Microsoft Teams meeting held by members of the rail alliance.
uncertain
Appeals → intervene → alliance
“We’ve called the police twice in the last two weeks without luck,” the rail alliance notes state.
asserted
notes → call → luck
“They asked for our security to intervene and escort them off-site.
asserted
security → ask → site
We feel that without intervention from WorkSafe, police believe it’s a health and safety matter and don’t want to intervene.”
asserted
it → feel → WorkSafe
The commission heard workers’ health and safety rights were used as “industrial leverage” on the Big Build, with rights of entry on worksites exploited to stop critical works and secure demands that inflated costs.
asserted
that → hear → costs
The inquiry heard volatility in Victorian industrial relations was defined by a struggle between the CFMEU and the AWU, in which the CFMEU was trying to dislodge the AWU as the preferred union on the largest civil construction projects, “with mixed success”.
asserted
CFMEU → hear → success
Contractors delivering the state government’s rail and road projects were left to manage industrial disruption by themselves, and “often did so by buying peace”, the royal commission heard.
asserted
commission → deliver → peace
…and 13 more, not listed.
The Aporia
