Victorians deserve the truth about the Big Build

Victorians have every right to ask a simple question. What has corruption in the Big Build actually cost us?

It is a question the Allan Labor Government clearly doesn’t want to know the answer to.

In recent days, the Premier has finally acknowledged that corruption and criminality have occurred within Victoria’s Big Build. Yet despite acknowledging the problem, the Premier seems unwilling to establish just how widespread it was, who benefited and, most importantly, how much it has cost Victorian taxpayers.

Instead, Victorians have been asked to accept that ballooning project costs are simply the result of inflation and expanded project scopes.

That explanation does not withstand scrutiny.

The North East Link, for example, was originally announced at around $10 billion. today, its estimated cost is approximately $26 billion. Inflation alone cannot credibly explain an increase of that magnitude. Nor can the government be allowed to normalise enormous cost increases by retrospectively claiming projects simply became larger after elections.

If that becomes accepted practice, future governments will have every incentive to understate project costs before polling day, only to dramatically increase budgets later with little accountability.

Anti-corruption barrister, Geoffrey Watson SC, has estimated that corruption and criminality on the Big Build may have cost Victorians at least $15 billion, while former Victorian Ombudsman Dr Deborah Glass OBE and former IBAC Commissioner Robert Redlich AM KC have both called for a Royal Commission.

Only a Royal Commission has the powers to compel witnesses, test evidence under oath and uncover the full extent of what has occurred.

The Premier argues that a Royal Commission into union corruption has already occurred, but this is misleading. The federal Royal Commission she refers to reported in 2015, just months after the conception of the Big Build. It could not possibly have examined allegations arising over the past decade.

Meanwhile, media reports have revealed that Victoria Police sought stronger investigative powers to properly pursue alleged corruption, but these pleas appear to have fallen on deaf ears. It has also been reported that investigators have faced significant challenges in encouraging witnesses to come forward.

The Premier has since announced additional powers for IBAC, but the most important “follow the money” powers, those needed to trace financial flows and uncover the proceeds of corruption, are not expected to commence until the end of 2027.

Victorians should not have to wait years for anti-corruption investigators to have the tools they need.

This comes as Freedom of Information documents reported by The Age revealed that a senior Allan Labor Government adviser referred to a “30 per cent CFMEU premium” on Big Build sites. If true, that represents a cost increase many times greater than inflation and raises serious questions that deserve independent examination.

These are not abstract numbers.

Every dollar lost through corruption, waste or inflated costs is a dollar that cannot be spent fixing local roads, reducing hospital waiting lists, improving public transport, supporting frontline services or easing the tax burden on Victorian families.

Only an elected Liberal and Nationals Government led by Jess Wilson will call a Royal Commission into corruption on the Big Build, strengthen IBAC’s powers, reinstate a Victorian Code of Practice for the Building and Construction industry, and establish Construction Enforcement Victoria to enforce compliance with the construction industry code.

Victorians have made enormous sacrifices to fund the state’s infrastructure program. At a time when state debt is approaching $200 billion, taxpayers deserve confidence that every public dollar is being spent honestly, efficiently and in the public interest. •