Abusers, drug traffickers and bikies: The men making money off Allan’s pro-women Big Build program

A company that secured huge contracts as the leading women-led supplier of female workers on Labor’s Big Build is owned by a male serial domestic violence abuser, was managed by a male drug trafficker also accused of family violence and has deep links to bikies and violent criminals.

The labour hire company, Women in Construction, is supplying dozens of female workers on the state and federally funded North East Link project and at its height previously supplied up to 250 workers across multiple Big Build rail and road projects, generating an estimated $2.5 million a week.

The firm boasts of endorsements from the Labor government’s key Big Build partner contractors, including the North East Link consortium, despite its deep links to bikie gangs, underworld figures and men who have committed serious and repeated domestic violence against women, including Women in Construction’s owner and founder, Luke Ellery.

Since 2019, the company has strongly and publicly aligned its business with Labor’s $100 billion Big Build infrastructure program, the ALP’s gender equity policy and the scandal-tainted CFMEU, which for years wielded huge control over which labour hire companies could win lucrative work on road and rail projects.

Labor’s policy, which is also called Women in Construction and which was developed with the backing and input of the CFMEU, mandates that major Big Build contractors prioritise the hiring of women to ostensibly deliver better working and social outcomes.

But a major investigation can reveal the Women in Construction company was used as a vehicle for underworld figures and bikies to place their relatives, friends and associates on Big Build projects, with the firm even taking directives to employ select staff from bikie gang leaders with violent reputations.

The firm separately engaged with gangland veteran Mick Gatto in an attempt to win contracts from a Big Build subcontractor.

The scandal is the latest crisis to envelop Premier Jacinta Allan – who was previously the longstanding minister responsible for the Big Build – and again highlights the rampant rorting on the infrastructure scheme, as well as Labor’s failure to protect women working on it.

The Women in Construction money trail leads from Victorian taxpayers to criminals and abusers of women, as well as to Gatto’s charity, a former Hells Angels enforcer turned boxer and an MMA fight promotion business run by two gangland-linked brothers.

On Thursday, this masthead asked Allan to explain why Women in Construction was able to win work on the scheme she was responsible for as minister given the company’s criminal ties and links to domestic violence; why the company was still operating on the Big Build; why there had not been a thorough investigation into what it, and other criminally aligned firms, had made on the Big Build; and whether that money had ended up in the hands of criminals.

A Victorian government spokesperson said it had no tolerance for illegal behaviour and pointed to action taken to beef up the Labour Hire Authority.

“It is working – with more than 88 criminal charges laid and 151 construction company licences now cancelled,” the spokesperson said.

Corruption expert Geoffrey Watson, SC, who was hired by the CFMEU administrator to probe union corruption and who has claimed Big Build rorts have cost Victorians up to $15 billion, described the Women in Construction scandal as a serious problem for the premier.

“The fact that two years after the premier vowed to clean up the construction sector, this fresh corruption and rorting has been left to the media to expose the premier’s abject failure to tackle this scandal,” he said.

“The Big Build is a scheme Allan was meant to safeguard, but she can’t tell Victorians how much money has gone to the crooks, because she is refusing to call an inquiry to find out. Now we learn Allan’s Big Build has put women at risk while enriching domestic violence abusers.”

Women in Construction’s owner and founder, Luke Ellery, has a record of domestic violence. Court records show he was convicted in Frankston Magistrates’ Court in late 2019 of two counts of persistently breaching a family violence order, a serious domestic violence criminal offence.

Ellery also pleaded guilty to repeatedly using a carriage service to harass a woman, but escaped a criminal conviction for this charge, promising to attend a male behavioural change program.

Two months before his dual “persistent” family violence criminal convictions in 2019, corporate documents reveal, Women in Construction was created. Ellery became the firm’s sole shareholder and director in 2022 as it won more and more work on the Big Build. It apparently made Ellery wealthy. He drove luxury cars, including a Maserati, and last year sold a five-bedroom, three-storey house for $2.65 million.

Ellery declined to answer questions but in a Thursday afternoon text message said he had “just been informed” that he had just lost a Big Build contract “worth over ten million” because of inquiries made by this masthead.

The company’s launch coincided with intense CFMEU efforts pushing the Labor government to force its major Big Build contractors to employ more women.

On its Facebook site in 2019, the CFMEU stated: “When it comes to promoting women in construction, CFMEU Victoria has always led the industry. No wonder the Victorian government is coming to us for advice.”

The CFMEU not only backed but closely controlled Ellery’s Women in Construction operation. Union and construction industry sources, speaking anonymously for fear of retribution, said the union directed Ellery to appoint a former official turned major organised criminal, Wayne “Junior” Carter, as Women in Construction’s general manager.

In 2012, Carter was jailed for eight years after his role in a large drug trafficking syndicate was exposed by a Queensland counter-organised crime taskforce. Carter was also accused by a fellow union official of having prolifically dealt drugs while he worked as a building union official in Brisbane.

Despite this, he moved to Victoria after his release from prison and was installed at Women in Construction. On a lucrative salary under Ellery’s watch, Carter recruited women to the firm and onto the Big Build via his contacts at bikie clubs, strip clubs and the underworld.

Big Build insiders who dealt with Carter describe him as bikie gang-linked, often drug-affected at work and variously sleazy or intimidating, a situation which led to complaints on the Big Build. Carter is currently facing family violence-related charges in the Magistrates’ Court.

In February this year, Carter pleaded guilty to possessing methamphetamine and a prohibited weapon after he was raided by the police clandestine laboratory squad in 2024.

In 2024, Carter’s replacement as a manager at Women in Construction was hand-picked by another disgraced former CFMEU official, Luke Collier, who was once jailed for assault.

Collier was separately accused by authorities of domestic violence and intimidating a woman, and received an apprehended violence order.

Multiple industry sources confirmed that Collier told Ellery to employ his girlfriend as Women in Construction’s senior manager and also requested she be given the use of a Range Rover.

Women in Construction is aligned with a second Ellery-owned business, Rock Solid Civil, another Big Build subcontractor. One of Rock Solid’s founding owners and Ellery’s former business partner is Daniel John Baxter, another man with a record of violence against women.

Baxter was jailed in May 2022 for brutally bashing his former partner, with the judge describing him as one of a cohort of “dangerous violent men … the community is outraged by and deeply concerned about”.

On its website, Women in Construction claims it has supplied workers to the Glen Huntly Road level crossing removal; the Craigeburn Road upgrade; the North East Link; the Hurstbridge Line duplication; and the Healesville-Koo Wee Rup Road upgrade.

Many of the same Big Build projects are listed on the Rock Solid Civil website, although the civil works company has also won work on the Western Port Highway upgrade, the Cranbourne Line upgrade and the Frankston Line upgrade.

Rock Solid Civil has, alongside Women in Construction, made millions from the Big Build and on its website has reproduced Labor government Big Build marketing materials alongside a statement describing how the firm has “had the privilege of contributing to some of Australia’s most significant infrastructure projects”.

As with Women in Construction, Rock Solid has links to violent ex-bikies, with Ellery previously hiring former Mongols bikie and boxer Dylan Goddard as the firm’s union delegate.

Goddard was used as an enforcer for the CFMEU during a September 2021 riot outside its headquarters, during which he was filmed exiting the union headquarters and attacking a protester outside.

The union delegate hired at Women in Construction, but who has since left the firm for another Big Build role, is a close associate of violent bikie boss and ex-union official Johnny “Two Guns” Walker, Jayde Delaney.

Delaney was in the bridal party at Walker’s most recent wedding and she was also, in 2024, selected by the CFMEU and Women in Construction to address an International Women’s Day event in Melbourne’s CBD.

Construction industry insiders said concerns were raised within Women in Construction about Delaney’s erratic behaviour, but this was ignored. While many of the women who worked at Women in Construction were honest and hard-working, Big Build and union insiders said a significant proportion of them received jobs via blatant nepotism and cronyism involving bikie gangs.

Construction industry sources said the Melbourne boss of the Comanchero bikie gang, Yoshi Vincent, successfully demanded the employment of his now ex-girlfriend.

Leaked documents from the Big Build reveal that Bandidos Melbourne chapter president Joel Leavitt directed Women in Construction to hire his friends and relatives on the Big Build, including women who continue to work on the North East Link earning up to $300,000 a year.

A North East Link spokesperson said all contractors were vetted and audited. Any breaches were referred to the relevant authorities, the spokesperson said.

Leavitt’s demands about who should be employed at Women in Construction were sometimes issued directly to the major Labor government contractors managing the Big Build projects, who in turn reported to senior public servants. Those public servants ultimately reported to Jacinta Allan as the responsible minister.

One of the demands from Leavitt, who is currently facing extortion charges, was what one Big Build source described as a “rort upon a rort”.

The source said it involved Leavitt initially demanding a female associate get the most lucrative night traffic management shifts via Women in Construction on the Big Build, only to demand that she be paired with a male worker, also picked by the bikie gang boss, to ensure her protection.

A source said a second Bandidos bikie boss, Cody Staff, also pressured the firm to hire select workers. Staff has previously been probed by police for allegedly assaulting a female Big Build worker but was never charged.

On its website, Women in Construction claims to be endorsed by the Big Build and Level Crossing Removal Authority contractors, including the SPARK consortium led by major firms Webuild and CPB and which is building the North East link.

“They are a diverse and fresh presence to the construction workforce,” states SPARK’s endorsement on the Women in Construction website. “Liaison with … Women in Construction has been pleasant, professional and friendly.”

Women in Construction also claims Labor government contractor Acciona, which is managing level crossing removals and rail line upgrades, has described the company as “phenomenal” and its managers – who at the time included drug trafficker Carter and domestic violence abuser Ellery – as “attentive to any concerns” and an “asset” to the Big Build.

Acciona used Women in Construction as a labour hire provider on its rail level crossing removal projects between 2022 and 2024. On Thursday, it moved to immediately remove Rock Solid from the M80 Ring Road project in an attempt to sever all ties with Ellery’s firms.

Convicted criminal and bikie gang affiliate Shannon Tibos, whose uncle was a CFMEU boss, was another violent figure who directed Women in Construction to hire a female relative.

Tibos’ daughter works on the North East Link via Women in Construction. Tibos has an extensive criminal history, including for violent offending, drugs and illegally possessing firearms.

He has been separately accused of using his influence within the CFMEU – his uncle was a former assistant secretary of the union – to cover up domestic violence perpetrated by a relative, another criminal, against a female Big Build worker.

A still-serving union delegate who works on the North East Link has secured his mother a job at Women in Construction.

At least two former female Women in Construction staff have been charged with drug offences, including Natasha Dokmanovic, who in 2022 pleaded guilty to a possession charge after she was accused of involvement in a drug smuggling operation run by her boyfriend.

Ellery has worked hard to cultivate gangland connections. He engaged underworld veteran Gatto to help Women in Construction win contracts, with Gatto referring the firm to Big Build subcontractors that separately have placed him on their payroll, construction industry and union sources says.

They include major civil works firm LTE, which is owned by Nic Maric, a businessman who Geoffrey Watson’s report tabled in the Queensland commission of inquiry into the CFMEU described as having a close association with the Comancheros.

In 2024 and 2025, Women in Construction donated tens of thousands of dollars to Gatto’s autism charity to become one of its major sponsors alongside LTE.

Ellery’s Rock Solid Big Build business has also sponsored former Hells Angel enforcer turned boxer Daniel “Porky” Lovett. Rock Solid is also listed as a sponsor of the Hex Fight Series, a mixed martial arts competition run by two brothers with underworld and bikie connections.

Corruption buster Watson, who previously was counsel assisting at the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption before being appointed by the CFMEU administrator to investigate graft in the union, said state and federal police were mostly powerless to investigate the nepotism and wrongdoing that had enabled the rise of Women in Construction.

“Premier Allan’s likely response to this latest scandal will be to refer it to the police, which is akin to perpetuating a cover-up given police can do nothing. A powerful agency or commission of inquiry with coercive powers is needed to expose the human and financial cost of this rot,” Watson said.

Earlier this month, Victoria’s Labour Hire Authority announced it did not intend to renew Women in Construction’s still active licence to supply workers to the Big Build, but provided no public explanation as to why.

The firm is still operating on the Big Build and sources said Ellery intends to challenge the authority’s move to rescind its licence.

A spokesperson for the Victorian Infrastructure Delivery Authority said: “We have clear expectations of conduct on all worksites, and while contractors are responsible for enforcing those standards and ensuring workers comply – anyone with information about alleged misconduct on our worksites should come forward.”

The Women in Construction scandal highlights the gaps in Allan’s response to the construction industry crime and corruption saga that is dogging her leadership.

In July 2024, when this masthead first revealed how some underworld-aligned firms were being improperly granted CFMEU enterprise bargaining agreements to give them privileged access to the Big Build, Allan urged the federal government “to review – and if necessary, terminate” – CFMEU industrial agreements.

But eight months later, in February 2025, Women in Construction and Rock Solid were granted a new CFMEU enterprise bargaining agreement, enabling both firms’ continuing access to the Big Build.

In March 2025, after this masthead exposed how women working for other Big Build labour hire firms had faced violence, bashings and sexual harassment, the Allan government again vowed to take action.

More than 12 months later, Women in Construction has remained on the Big Build. Allan’s July 2024 referral of the Building Bad revelations to Victoria’s anti-corruption watchdog was exposed earlier this year as pointless, given IBAC told the government it lacked the power to investigate the abuse of taxpayer funds on the Big Build.

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