“What … wh … wh … what have you got that shows they were put to me in writing?” Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan stuttered when asked why it took her more than a year to respond to a whistleblower’s warning about CFMEU intimidation tactics on Victorian construction sites.
When Allan fronted the Monday-morning press conference, it seemed unimaginable her position as the premier and leader of the Victorian ALP could be questioned, but by the end of the week, it was being openly debated.
Allan’s private office has been frantically hitting the phones to Labor MPs to quell any signs of a political rebellion. “She seems nervous,” one Labor MP tells AFR Weekend.
Allan has announced a review, suspended the CFMEU from the Victorian ALP and any political donations, promised to toughen anti-bikie laws and referred the allegations to authorities, as she promised to “pull this rotten culture out by its roots”.
But her moves to get on the front foot of the widening CFMEU scandal, which has already led to the resignation of CFMEU boss John Setka, have failed to prevent more questions about how much responsibility lies with the Victorian government.
After holding power for 21 of the past 25 years, the Victorian ALP is pushing back against a growing perception that its approval from voters is implicitly linked to a massive Big Build construction program that is embedded with the militant union. At the heart of this government is a Labor premier with deep links to the union movement. Of all the senior Labor politicians around the country, Allan is the one who is most exposed by this scandal.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been touched by it, as have NSW Premier Chris Minns and Queensland Premier Steven Miles. The PM has moved quickly to seek to install an administrator and have the Fair Work Ombudsman investigate CFMEU enterprise bargaining agreements. But Allan was the minister responsible for Victoria’s $100 billion Big Build; she was the one overseeing the contracts and on notice about the alleged violence and misconduct at the heart of the scandal.
New Resolve polling, conducted just before the CFMEU investigation broke, has put support for her government at just 27 per cent, its lowest level in years as growing debt, project blow-outs and cuts to roads and hospitals begin to hit home.
One Victorian Labor adviser says that although the scandal is unlikely to trigger any immediate challenge to Allan and her government, it has shaken the Labor faithful and broken the spell over the party cast by the Teflon-like Daniel Andrews.
