Jacinta Allan has conceded that criminals have infiltrated some of Victoria’s largest construction projects, but has once again rejected calls for a royal commission into alleged corruption involving unions and labour hire companies. In an opinion piece published in the Age on Thursday night, the premier wrote that “we now know that criminals operated on some of Victoria’s construction sites” during the Labor government’s so-called Big Build. “There was violence, intimidation and organised criminal behaviour. That is shocking and unacceptable. It should never have happened,” Allan said, while noting that it does not represent the majority of union workers. She expressed sorrow that it happened on projects funded by the Victorian people, but argued that a royal commission would not solve the issue, pointing to the last one that cost $46 million, achieved only one criminal conviction, and didn’t change the culture. “If the goal is another report, another royal commission will deliver one. If the goal is changing behaviour on worksites, changing the culture is the answer,” she wrote.

Her op-ed came after allegations that money from the Big Build was being paid to gangland figures and that the government was warned about cost blowouts due to CFMEU demands. However, Allan did not address claims about her time as transport infrastructure minister, including that state government officials told a rail consortium she wanted it to cut a deal with the CFMEU over a level crossing removal project, resulting in the union forcing its preferred labour hire company onto the site. Another claim involved ministerial pressure from her office in a 2022 dispute between the CFMEU and a rail infrastructure partnership. Allan instead pointed to actions already taken: giving Victoria Police stronger powers (resulting in 90+ criminal charges), giving the Labour Hire Authority stronger powers (cancelling licenses for 164 firms), putting the CFMEU into administration, kicking them out of the Victorian Labor Party, requiring construction companies to report suspected criminal behaviour, strengthening whistleblower protections, and sharing intelligence with the federal government. Opposition leader Jess Wilson, however, wrote in her own Age piece that a royal commission is needed to expose how $15 billion “of Victorians’ money has been rorted” and to ensure it never happens again, claiming Labor’s Big Build has become a “hunting ground for organised crime, standover men, and corrupt union bosses.”