Chris Young, KC, talks fast and barely stumbles.
asserted
Young → talk → ?
The lead counsel assisting the inelegantly named Royal Commission into the Integrity of Major Public and Civil Infrastructure Construction Projects in Victoria, spent most of the first substantive day of hearings reading from documents.
asserted
counsel → assist → documents
Players in Victoria’s Big Build have already handed over 110,000 of them and Young, who it appears is well across his brief, used them to paint a series of quick-fire word pictures.
asserted
it → hand → pictures
The CFMEU had “unprecedented” access to the state government of Jacinta Allan and Daniel Andrews because of their personal and factional links, he said, reading from a note prepared by John Holland, one of the nation’s largest construction companies.
asserted
he → have → companies
At the Gap Road level crossing removal site – the subject of these hearings – documents revealed the union’s hard nuts sat on water barriers, made multiple so-called “health and safety” complaints, filmed workers and threatened to “smash” others who turned up for their shifts.
Police, according to a phone recording from the contractor’s health and safety manager, seemed “afraid to take any action”.
Gap Road is the first case study of this year-long royal commission, said Young, because it was where everything changed on Labor’s Big Build.
It’s where the CFMEU employed tactics to take over a site, then install its preferred labour hire contractor and traffic management company and start putting costs through the roof.
Young even pinpointed the day on which it all changed: June 7, 2022.
uncertain
it → reveal → which
What seemed on June 6 to be an intractable and escalating industrial quagmire was all but solved by the following afternoon, after a mysterious meeting at the CFMEU head office in Melbourne.
asserted
seemed → seem → Melbourne
Suddenly, on site, a series of new, union-preferred contractors appeared.
asserted
series → prefer → contractors
So, what exactly happened in that room?
asserted
what → happen → room
This is where Young’s documents fell short.
asserted
documents → fall → ?
There’s no letter recording what was agreed,” he told the commission.
asserted
he → ’ → commission
To untangle this over the next two weeks, Young will need witnesses.
asserted
Young → untangle → witnesses
The witness list has not been published but will include some of the most senior government and bureaucratic officials of the Andrews-Allan era.
asserted
list → publish → era
“The commission will hear evidence from more than 20 people, each of them has been compelled to attend by a notice to attend,” Young said.
asserted
Young → hear → notice
It’s a list that’s going to keep lawyers across town busy if the session-opening announcement of appearances is anything to go by.
asserted
announcement → ’ → appearances
One by one, the silks and juniors bobbed up.
asserted
silks → bob → one
They started at the table facing the commissioner with Young and his team of six.
asserted
They → start → six
Then came two more lawyers for the Victorian Infrastructure Delivery Authority.
asserted
lawyers → come → Authority
The very next lawyer on their feet announced herself as “Ms Foley, appearing for the Honorable Daniel Andrews, AC”.
asserted
lawyer → announce → Andrews
That two former premiers of Victoria are represented at the bar table of a commission investigating corruption, crime and wrongdoing costing billions of dollars, speaks volumes for the political weight of this royal commission.
asserted
represented → represent → commission
Then the union administrator’s lawyer announced himself.
asserted
lawyer → announce → himself
By then, the bar table’s space was exhausted and the state of Victoria, various building contractors and WorkSafe announced their appearances from the cheap seats behind.
asserted
state → exhaust → seats
By the time Victoria Police’s representative stood to make her presence known, we were in the third row back – a fitting position given the police’s long-held approach that wrongdoing on infrastructure projects was simply an industrial relations matter
Commissioner Chris Kourakis, SC, has awesome powers, and he is already using them.
The commission, said Young, had issued almost 100 calls for information from various parties.
asserted
Young → stand → parties
Some had returned documents, others had not.
asserted
others → return → documents
Some responses, he said, “appear on their face to be untrue,” and others “show a surprising lack of knowledge in matters the submitter should have known about”.
asserted
submitter → say → matters
As anyone knows who has written about this state government, its default position is to evade questions, pretend there is nothing to see here and dodge accountability.
asserted
position → know → accountability
The fast-talking silk is clear: he will not stand for that.
asserted
he → talk → that
He ended his opening on Monday afternoon with 30 minutes to spare and a serious admonition.
asserted
He → end → minutes
He wants documents out of the bureaucrats, politicians, officials and business people, no matter how they are accustomed to acting.
asserted
they → want → bureaucrats
“There are parties who have not been complying with notices [to produce],” Young scolded, making clear he was talking about “state parties”.
asserted
talking → be → parties
“A notice to produce is a compulsory process … failure to produce or failure to comply ... is a criminal offence.
asserted
failure → produce → ?
“Delays that have been incurred ... because of the need to receive approval from certain government committees, processes or persons in accordance with some internal government policy.
asserted
that → incur → policy
In our submission as counsel assisting, that is not a reasonable excuse,” Young said.
asserted
Young → assist → counsel
With that warning ringing in their ears, the first witness will be called on Tuesday.
Read more on the royal commission
Live blog: Big Build, CFMEU under microscope as long-awaited construction royal commission begins
Background: Why the inquiry is looking into the Gap Road level crossing
The leaked memo: The document that revealed CFMEU’s level crossing takeover
asserted
that → ring → takeover
The Aporia
