The Age and 60 Minutes have laid bare what Premier Allan has spent years denying. Two of Victoria's most respected anti-corruption officials are demanding a royal commission. Family First says the time for half-measures is over.
Sunday night's 60 Minutes broadcast and reports in The Age have delivered a damning verdict on a decade of corruption, waste, and deliberate negligence on Premier Jacinta Allan's Big Build. Former IBAC chief Robert Redlich and former Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass — two of the most authoritative voices on accountability in this state — have spoken with one voice: only a royal commission can expose the full rot. Family First's Jane Foreman agrees, and is calling on every party in the Victorian Parliament to support that call.
"Robert Redlich prosecuted organised crime in the 1980s. Deborah Glass exposed a corrupt Labor minister. These are not political operatives — they are two of the most credible integrity figures this state has produced. When both of them say a royal commission is the only answer, Premier Allan should be ashamed that she is still resisting it."
The allegations are staggering in their scale. A $109 billion infrastructure program. Bikie gangs on taxpayer-funded worksites. Principal contractors accused of knowing about and accommodating unlawful conduct. Government officials warned in writing and choosing to look away. And at the centre of it all, a Premier who ran this program as minister for nearly a decade and who has since refused to answer questions about what she knew and when she knew it. The Labour Hire Commissioner himself — a serving regulator — has said the principal contractors on the Big Build have been "doing business with businesses and structures that most people in the community would find offensive." That is an extraordinary statement. It demands an extraordinary response.
"This is not about politics. It is about billions of dollars of Victorian families' money — money that was supposed to build the roads and rail lines this state needs, and which has instead lined the pockets of criminal networks with the knowledge, and possibly the blessing, of those in charge. A royal commission is not optional. It is a moral obligation."
Family First believes Victorians deserve to know who authorised what, who was paid off, and who in government chose silence over accountability. The integrity of public procurement — and the safety of every Victorian who relies on the infrastructure being built — depends on answers that only a royal commission has the powers to compel.
"The Allan government did not respond to questions from The Age. It has not responded to questions from the public. Family First will take this question to every Victorian voter at the November election: do you want a government that stonewalls, or one that is finally willing to let the truth come out?"
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