Federal government expected to announce its response to the CFMEU saga as Vic opposition calls for royal commission

Victoria’s opposition leader has called for a royal commission into allegations of misconduct against the CFMEU as Jacinta Allan faces questions about when she was warned about bullying and corruption concerns.

The Victorian opposition has called for a royal commission into allegations of “misconduct, abuse, and misuse of public funds” by the CFMEU on major infrastructure projects.

Liberal Leader John Pesutto has written a letter to Premier Jacinta Allan asking her to establish a royal commission to carry out a “thorough and fully independent investigation” into the allegations levelled against the construction union.

“These allegations implicate you, as Premier and former Minister for Transport Infrastructure, and your close ties with the CFMEU,” Mr Pesutto wrote.

“A royal commission, with the power to compel witnesses and gather necessary documentation, is essential to restoring public confidence.”

It comes as pressure mounts on Premier Jacinta Allan to come clean about how many times she was warned about the alleged behaviour, with fresh claims from surveyors that bullying and corruption concerns were ignored for more than a year.

The opposition leader on Wednesday proposed that a senior retired judge with “no political connections” be appointed as royal commissioner.

Mr Pesutto said while he backed the federal government appointing an independent administrator to run the CFMEU, the union should ultimately be deregistered.

He suggested that Labor should give all of the “dirty” money donated to the party by the CFMEU in recent years to charities.

Federal Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke has welcomed John Setka’s resignation. Picture: Martin Ollman

The CFMEU this week ­declared itself the administrator of its Victorian branch in a bid to cauterise wounds exposed by allegedly criminal behaviour.

But people within Labor ranks have raised concerns that the executive includes members of the Victorian executive and a NSW official facing bribery charges.

Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke on Wednesday announced that the Albanese government would legislate to ensure an administrator could be appointed to overhaul the CFMEU for behaviour it has described as “abhorrent, intolerable”.

Mr Burke had welcomed state union boss John Setka’s resignation and the decision to put the branch into administration, but said it was only the start of the clean-up.

Jacinta Allan is being urged to come clean about how many times she was warned about the alleged behaviour. Picture: David Caird

It comes as the Labor government tries to distance itself from the powerful construction union and major party donor after industry insiders claimed Big Build sites had been infiltrated by bikies.

Despite claiming she rarely received complaints about the CFMEU on major infrastructure projects, Ms Allan was forced to concede that Surveyors Australia expressed serious concerns about the construction union last year.

In a bid to grow its membership, the CFMEU has reportedly been demanding that hundreds of surveyors join the union.

Surveyors Australia CEO Michelle Blicavs said she had been sounding the alarm about union workers using “standover tactics” to force surveyors to sign up to the CFMEU for 18 months.

“We met with the then-deputy premier Jacinta Allan in March last year to raise our concerns of surveyors being told to stop work or denied entry to job sites,” she said.

“Since then we have continued to advocate to a wide range of ministers to fight for justice for surveyors, but were and continue to be ignored.”

A director of one engineering surveying firm working on tier-one Big Build projects in Melbourne said the CFMEU’s “bullying and standover tactics” were driving the company he had built for more than 25 years into the ground.

The CFMEU this week ­declared itself the administrator of its Victorian branch. Picture: Ian Currie

He said his workers had been denied entry to sites until they signed up to the union, prompting half of them to quit and join unionised ­companies.

“They’ll tell the contractor, ‘If these surveyors don’t join the union, they can get off site right now’,” he said. “This is happening on all new tenders on big jobs.”

The surveyor said reputable companies that had been operating for decades were being pushed off lucrative government projects, including level-crossing removal works.

The refusal to allow non-unionised workers has halted work on some sites, putting major projects at risk of further delays and cost blowouts.

“This is why every single one of these projects is so far over budget and running over time, because they just let this happen,” he said. “It’s corruption at its finest.”

Another surveying business owner located in Geelong called the CFMEU “a bunch of thugs” and said his workers had been told “sign it (EBA) or get f---ed”.

“They’ve made it so hard to manage a business because you can’t get any work on the big sites. You’ll be halfway through a contract, and they kick you off and that’s it.”

Ms Allan on Tuesday said she recalled meeting Surveyors Australia over the claims, saying the discussion was proof she was “taking action”.

“The advice to the surveyors … was to go and talk with the federal agency with the responsibility for dealing with these matters,” she said.

The CFMEU did not respond to a request for comment about the claims.

Last month the Herald Sun revealed details of a CFMEU “takeover” of the local government sector and a huge premium hike due to builders selecting union-linked companies with tenders double the price of competitors.

The Premier refused to claim any responsibility for what she described as the “rotten culture” left to fester on Victorian government construction sites.

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said it could take up to a month for detectives to assess suspected criminal links within the union’s Victorian construction branch.

‘They do not represent us’

ACTU secretary Sally McManus announced the construction and general division of the CFMEU would be suspended for the foreseeable future.

Ms McManus said the union would remain out in the cold until they could prove they were a functional and “clean”, free of any criminal elements.

A meeting between leaders of the CFMEU and ACTU members went for about three hours with only a handful of the 52 representatives against the motion to isolate the troubled union.

Flanked by ACTU executives, including president Michele O’Neil, Ms McManus strongly encouraged the union to support and accept an external administrator.

“We urge leadership to support and cooperate with the external administrator,” she said.

She said there was “zero tolerance for corruption”, adding they would stand against and root out any and all of those with criminal connections.

“They do not represent us,” she assured, adding it was only a small section of the union that had been corrupted.

Ms McManus was unable and unwilling to comment on what response CFMEU members gave during their proceedings this morning.