‘Too much to hide’: Wilson unleashes on Allan over new Big Build scandal

Premier Jacinta Allan has expressed disgust at revelations that a Big Build labour hire company run by a man with a history of abusing women profited from her government’s gender equity program.

Opposition Leader Jess Wilson also renewed calls for a royal commission after The Age revealed on Friday that Women In Construction, a company which supplies women labourers to the North East Link, level-crossing removals and other major projects, is owned by a man convicted of domestic violence and was previously run by a drug trafficker.

Wilson seized on the “absolutely sickening” revelations to restate her promise to establish a royal commission into Big Build corruption if the Coalition won November’s state election.

Allan, when questioned at a parliamentary inquiry about the latest disclosures of criminal infiltration of Big Build sites, was unable to say when she first became aware of the Women In Construction company or how much it had been paid.

She confirmed its licence to operate was being reviewed by the Labour Hire Authority as part of its ongoing work to clean up government projects.

“Those allegations that have been reported on today, and I do acknowledge there have been previous allegations that have been made about the treatment of women on works sites, is appalling, it’s disgusting and it is behaviour for which I have absolutely no tolerance for,” Allan said.

The premier said she believed women deserved to succeed in industries such as construction, which is why she had been committed to increase the number of women working in the sector.

These policies were used by Women In Construction to further their influence and the company, The Age revealed on Friday, became a vehicle for underworld figures and bikies to place their relatives, friends and associates on Big Build projects.

“We are doing everything we can to protect women, to protect girls, to protect all workers on construction sites, because I have zero tolerance for this behaviour. It’s disgraceful, it’s disgusting. There is no place for it,” she said.

Allan restated that any criminal activity or involvement on Big Build projects should be referred to police.

She told a parliamentary budget estimates committee inquiry that she would take advice from departmental secretaries about whether she could make a referral to Victoria Police herself.

Corruption expert Geoffrey Watson, SC, said on Friday before Allan’s appearance that the premier would likely refer the matter to police but that this was “akin to perpetuating a cover-up given police can do nothing”.

Allan denied this when Watson’s comments were put to her at the inquiry.

“Unlike Mr Watson, I have absolute confidence in Victoria Police to investigate allegations of criminal behaviour on work sites,” she said.

“We have here in Victoria an independent investigative body with all the powers and tools that it needs, and we’ve strengthened those powers in recent times to investigate illegal criminal behaviour.”

Watson, who estimated that corruption on government work sites under the Andrews and Allan governments has cost taxpayers about $15 billion since the Big Build began, said the latest rorts exposed Allan’s “abject failure to tackle this scandal”.

Wilson said Victorians would be appalled to learn that the company exploited a government scheme which prioritised the hiring of women to find lucrative jobs for friends and associates of gangland figures and grow rich off Big Build projects.

“The allegations in The Age today are absolutely sickening and go to the heart of the rotten and corrupt culture surrounding Labor’s Big Build,” Wilson said on Friday.

“Labor spent years boasting about getting more women into construction. Yet according to these allegations, Labor’s idea of supporting women in construction was to funnel taxpayer money to a company owned by a serial abuser.”

Allan, prior to replacing Daniel Andrews as premier in 2023, served as the minister responsible for major projects, transport infrastructure and the state’s largest project, the Suburban Rail Loop.

“Jacinta Allan was the minister responsible for the Big Build for years. She oversaw the system, the contractors and the culture that allowed criminal and union-linked networks to infiltrate taxpayer-funded projects,” Wilson said.

“As minister and now premier, she could have intervened at any time – but repeatedly chose not to.”

“Jacinta Allan won’t call a royal commission because she has too much to hide and too much to lose.”

Labor’s program to promote the involvement of more women in the construction industry was developed with the backing and input of the CFMEU, a union whose corruption under former state secretary John Setka was extensively detailed by this masthead’s Building Bad series.

The union has a significant presence on two of the state’s biggest projects, the Suburban Rail Loop and the North East Link.

Women In Construction, a company with links to bikie gangs and Melbourne’s criminal underworld, has since 2019 profited from the program and exploited it to secure lucrative jobs for relatives, friends and associates of gangland figures.

The founder and owner of the company, Luke Ellery, was convicted in 2019 on two counts of breaching a family violence order and pleaded guilty without a criminal conviction to using a carriage service to harass a woman.

A convicted drug trafficker, Wayne Carter, who is also facing family violence-related charges, previously worked as the company’s general manager.

Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.