Interim report into Victoria’s construction sector calls for more powers for states integrity agencies
The hotly anticipated report into Victoria’s construction sector has called for beefed-up powers for the state’s integrity agencies to go after corruption on the state’s Big Build sites.
Victoria’s anti-corruption agencies should be given beefed-up powers to go after corruption on the state’s Big Build projects according to a first report into the construction sector.
The interim report by former Department of Justice secretary Greg Wilson was launched on the back of allegations of bikies working within the CFMEU.
Released on Friday, it revealed state government and corruption agencies had shortcomings that needed to be further probed.
Those agencies include the Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission (IBAC), Labour Hire Authority, Victorian Ombudsman, Victorian Auditor General’s Office and Worksafe.
Among four key areas identified in the report was a need to investigate whether the integrity controls should be expanded to ensure “allegations of corrupt behaviour in Victorian Government construction projects can be effectively examined by state integrity agencies”.
Mr Wilson will probe the selection process for health and safety representatives, right-of-entry permit holders and union delegates on state government construction projects.
“Victoria’s integrity agencies can investigate and expose misconduct and corruption in public office,” he wrote.
“These agencies, however, cannot investigate the sub-contractual arrangements in place between private sector providers on major government construction and infrastructure projects.”
Mr Wilson noted that reform within integrity agencies “would give rise to challenging legal questions” and expanding powers “would create more competing priorities for that agency’s existing resources”.
“However, the review considers that the question merits further discussion,” he wrote.
Mr Wilson will also explore whether a complaints scheme across taxpayer funded projects should be established to give workers a “single gateway to raise complaints of unlawful behaviour”.
The monitoring of contractors’ compliance with procurement and contractual policies will also be examined.
The collaboration between federal and state governments and between regulators, integrity bodies and enforcement agencies will also come under the microscope.
“There is not a simple ‘one-stop shop’ for any allegation related to government-funded construction projects,” the report notes.
Premier Jacinta Allan, who recieved the report on Thursday, said the government was considering its contents.
“I made a commitment once I had received and read the report to release it, and that’s exactly what we have done,” she said on a visit to Bendigo on Friday.
“I want to thank Mr Wilson for, in just a few short weeks, for providing an interim report, a report that clearly outlines four action areas that he will be undertaking further consultation on and consideration to lead into the final report that will be delivered in November.
“Obviously, we need to wait until Mr Wilson’s final report is provided.”
The final report is due by November 29.
Opposition Leader John Pesutto said the interim report demonstrated the “farce that is Premier Allan’s response” to the allegations of CFMEU misconduct on Big Build sites.
“Victorians deserve to know the extent to which bikies and organised criminals have infiltrated major projects, how this was allowed to occur, who is responsible and how much it has cost taxpayers,” he said on Friday.
“This report has been set up by Premier Allan in a way that does not answer these questions and is unable to do so.
“Only a Royal Commission, as proposed by the Victorian Liberals and Nationals, will get to the bottom of the alleged rorts and criminal conduct that has flourished across Big Build sites under the Allan Labor government.”
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