Claims of CFMEU reprisals were not acted on for months, with Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan acknowledging the delay and pushing for clearer compliant channels.
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The premier swatted away questions on Tuesday about her prior knowledge of criminality within the CFMEU following allegations bikies and organised crime figures had infiltrated the construction union.
It followed Nine newspapers reporting Ms Allan took more than a year to officially respond to an an Indigenous labour-hire firm's April 2022 letter when she was state transport infrastructure minister.
The letter alleged CFMEU officials were threatening violence and blackballing non-union-preferred firms from state and federally funded infrastructure projects.
Ms Allan said her office logged the correspondence in October 2022 and it was subsequently acted on by the Major Transport Infrastructure Authority.
However, she conceded the process did not meet her expectations while noting industrial relations powers were held at the federal level.
"It's clear that the correspondence was not processed quickly enough," the premier told reporters.
"But when it was formally lodged ... it was acted upon."
In a letter to Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton in May 2023, the premier said she was advised the authority's director-general Kevin Devlin had not uncovered evidence of "systemic, widespread, or organised criminal activity" on its worksites.
Victoria Police assessed the allegations and took no action after deeming they did not meet the threshold of criminality.
Standing in front of a board with a raft of CFMEU stories dating as far back as 2016, Opposition Leader John Pesutto dismissed Ms Allan's claim she had responded to warnings.
"All of the evidence points to a premier in Jacinta Allan who has long known about the issues of bullying and intimidation," he said.
Ms Allan said federal Labor had initiated steps to suspend the CFMEU's construction arm from the Victorian Labor Party and confirmed the state party was no longer receiving donations from the division.
Legislation to crack down on bikies associating with each other will be introduced in August and the terms of reference for an independent review into the powers of certain Victorian agencies released later this week.
The premier said she was the only leader in the country with a detailed plan to tackle the "national menace" of the CFMEU and said the scandal exposed gaps in the reporting and complaint systems.
"We need to establish a new and clear process for whistleblowers and complainants about construction companies and construction unions," she said.
In addition, the allegations have been referred to Victoria Police and the state's Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission.
Mr Patton confirmed the force is assessing whether any of the latest allegations meet a criminal threshold.
It could take a month or two to sift through all the material before police make a decision and the force will liaise with the IBAC.
"We'll work through that but it's not being brushed under the carpet, I can assure you that," he told ABC Radio Melbourne on Tuesday.
The Victorian opposition is demanding an independent inquiry, beyond the investigation commissioned by the CFMEU's national executive.
"We cannot and should not expect Victoria Police to be able to cover off on everything," Mr Pesutto said.
Australian Associated Press
