Jacinta Allan fights to keep 29 CFMEU documents secret
More than a year before the CFMEU imploded, the government was warned about the union’s misconduct. Now it wants to keep those warnings secret.
A potentially explosive trove of 29 documents detailing complaints about CFMEU misconduct on Victorian Big Build road and rail projects has been uncovered, but the Allan government is fighting to keep it secret.
The bid to block releasing the letters, emails and briefs comes as a key construction industry association said Jacinta Allan “tried to be helpful” but ultimately did nothing to resolve its dispute with the militant union.
The Victorian Infrastructure Development Authority – the public service unit running projects such as the Metro Tunnel, West Gate Tunnel and North East Link – has refused to release 29 documents in full to The Australian under Freedom of Information laws, and suppressed aspects of 17 other documents.
One of the few documents released to The Australian was a letter dated March 19, 2023, from the Consulting Surveyors Victoria to Ms Allan when she was deputy premier and minister for transport and infrastructure. The letter warned the union was banning surveyors from projects in a bid to force them to join the militant organisation.
The two-page letter, signed by CSV national chief executive officer Michelle Blicavs, raised the alarm that the CFMEU had “targeted” and “removed” consulting surveyors from sites resulting in delays on major road and rail tunnels.
Ms Blicavs was invited to meet with Ms Allan shortly after sending the letter. She told The Australian on Sunday that while Ms Allan “tried to be helpful” during the 45-minute meeting, the government failed to intervene and left CSV to thrash out its own deal with the CFMEU, resulting in about 100 surveyors stopping work and three weeks of delays on major projects.
“(Ms Allan) did meet with us … we were told there wasn’t anything they could do. That it was an IR issue and we were basically left out on our own,” she said.
“She was very upfront and understood the problem but thought that it was an IR issue and there was nothing she could do.”
Ms Blicavs called on the government to “take a role in leadership” relating to unions on Big Build projects. “The government contracts these things down and it becomes the head contractor’s problem, the government releases all responsibility and that’s a problem,” she said.
“(Ms Allan) tried to be helpful … but they just seemed to be powerless. It was their money being spent, so our issue is the government seems to contract out, then relinquishes all care and responsibility.”
Ms Allan’s office has defended the government’s record on the CFMEU.
“We are getting on with eradicating the rotten culture exposed in parts of the Victorian construction sector,” a government spokesperson said on Sunday.
“We are making sure that people coming forward with information about conduct on worksites have the complaints processes and protections they deserve.
“Where allegations of criminal behaviour by the CFMEU have been raised, they have been referred to the appropriate authorities.”
VIDA has claimed the 29 documents are internal working documents, contain material covered by legal professional privilege and relate to confidential trade and commercial details, and should be exempt from being released under FoI.
The Australian has lodged an appeal with Victoria’s Information Commissioner challenging VIDA’s secrecy ruling on the documents, which are dated from June 2022 to June 2023, more than a year before CFMEU bikie links and misconduct on building sites emerged in media reports.
John Setka resigned as CFMEU state secretary in July 2024 amid media reports that the union had been infiltrated by organised crime and outlaw bikies. The Albanese government put the union’s construction division into administration.
In the March 2023 letter, CSV said the industry body had been made aware of “separate and deeply concerning incidents that are impacting our members’ abilities to work on Victoria’s Big Build projects”.
“The CMFEU have been targeting surveyors on construction sites, restricting access to work sites based on non-membership to the construction union,” the letter stated.
“Instead, professional surveyors have been removed from site, forced to sit in site sheds and unable to provide crucial site works, which will have significant flow-on effects for the delivery of the Big Build projects.”
The CSV letter warned Ms Allan that the actions of the CFMEU were causing delays to the projects, which were already running late.
“Whilst surveyors are sidelined from their important jobs, Victoria’s projects are being delayed … these illegal actions are exacerbating the pressures facing Victorian business further,” the letter states.
“To prevent further delays to the Big Build … we are requesting immediate government intervention to facilitate a return to work for our surveying members, in a safe working environment.”
VIDA said a search for communications between the CFMEU and former Big Build public service manager Matthew Phelan – now Premier Allan’s chief of staff – failed to identify any relevant documents.
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