Speaker 1: My first action as Premier, we will be to call
Speaker 1: a Royal Commission into the construction sector.
Speaker 2: Vitroia's new Premier, Ben Carroll has announced a Royal Commission
Speaker 2: into the state's building industry.
Speaker 1: We will also immediately establish a special prosecutor that we'll
Speaker 1: work in parallel with the Royal Commission.
Speaker 2: If allows years of reporting exposing our less corruption, organized
Speaker 2: crime links and misconduct within the sector, and years of
Speaker 2: resistance from the government and former Premier to Cintereallo, the
Speaker 2: Commission now has the potential to examine what happened and
Speaker 2: he knew about it, forcing powerful figures and politics, business
Speaker 2: unions and the underworld do answer questions under oath and
Speaker 2: in public. I'm Daniel James, and you're listening to seven
Speaker 2: a year Today investigative reporter for the Age, Nick McKenzie
Speaker 2: on what the Rule Commission must uncover and the big
Speaker 2: names who could be called to testify. It's Friday, July
Speaker 2: thirty one. Nick, good to see you again. Over many
Speaker 2: years of painstaking investigative journalism, you've exposed big bill corruption
Speaker 2: throughout it all, you've maintained the pressure for a Royal Commission,
Speaker 2: which just in that Alan famously or infamously resisted, how
Speaker 2: are you feeling this week? Do you feel like you're
Speaker 2: somehow responsible for Allan's demise? Given it's widely accepted that
Speaker 2: this issue was a big part of what resulted in
Speaker 2: her losing the leadership, I.
Speaker 3: Think it's unquestionable that journalism played a massive part in
Speaker 3: exposing not just to the public, so the body of
Speaker 3: politic what was going on on these government projects and
Speaker 3: labor government projects. And there was so much wrongdoing and
Speaker 3: so much reporting of her wrongdoing. It was inescapable and
Speaker 3: the premier and the former premier now to see to
Speaker 3: Allen quite famously or infamously said you'd tough it out
Speaker 3: that now.
Speaker 4: Will you call a royal commission?
Speaker 2: Will you hunt down the money that tax players.
Speaker 4: May have lost to organize Royan?
Speaker 1: As I said earlier on that claim, the administrator says
Speaker 1: that claim is not well tested, or.
Speaker 3: The administrator the story after story after story, it just
Speaker 3: kept building up, and it got to the point where
Speaker 3: her failure to act appropriately in the early days meant
Speaker 3: it really was inevitable that there had to be a
Speaker 3: royal commission. I mean, the time had passed for about
Speaker 3: the other responsive so entrenched was her refusal to call
Speaker 3: a proper inquiry, and so significant was the amount of
Speaker 3: evidence suggesting that the wrongdoing is systemic and entrenched.
Speaker 2: Perhaps the very first utterance from the new Victorian Premier,
Speaker 2: Ben Carroll was the announcement of overall commission into the
Speaker 2: Big Bill Corruption. What do we know so far about
Speaker 2: any of the details around.
Speaker 3: That, Well, nothing really except that the new Premier has
Speaker 3: promised this role. Commission will look under every rock that
Speaker 3: needs to be looked under. So look at the politicians,
Speaker 3: look at the union officials, look at the gangsters, look
Speaker 3: at the companies.
Speaker 4: There's lots of players here.
Speaker 3: Look at the regulatory and policing agencies which previously failed
Speaker 3: to do a good job or the job required. But
Speaker 3: I mean that's just rhetoric at the moment. We want
Speaker 3: to see what the terms of reference are when they're released.
Speaker 3: We need to see who the Royal Commissioner or commissioners
Speaker 3: are or is. They need to be independent and needs
Speaker 3: to be appropriately empowered so to have the power of
Speaker 3: tap bones, have the power to call coersive hearings where
Speaker 3: gangland figures like mickad I have to come and answer questions.
Speaker 4: They need to be appropriately resourced.
Speaker 3: The Commission needs to have teams, investigators, analysts, etc.
Speaker 4: Ing the digging.
Speaker 3: There's no point having a Royal Commission because it doesn't
Speaker 3: have the capacity to properly investigate. So the devil will
Speaker 3: be in the detail, excusing cliche and we yet to
Speaker 3: find out what that detail looks like.
Speaker 2: There's so much to this story which you've untangled over
Speaker 2: many years. What are the main issues you think need
Speaker 2: to be covered and questions that need to be answered
Speaker 2: by Overyal Commission?
Speaker 4: Well, boiler right down.
Speaker 3: Basically what happened was the Labor government and the Premier
Speaker 3: Jacinthra Allen bestowed just immense power on a very lawless
Speaker 3: entity in the form of the Victorian branch that the
Speaker 3: see for me, the Construction Union at the very time
Speaker 3: it was in bed with the gang land, with bike clubs,
Speaker 3: with figures like Mikado, and that power unable to see
Speaker 3: for me you and its gang land mates to become
Speaker 3: gatekeepers on the big bill, to take over parts of
Speaker 3: mega projects, to put their mates on projects. We had
Speaker 3: Biki gang members running a markets union officials. We had
Speaker 3: subcontracting firms owned by gangland figures getting the sweet deals
Speaker 3: on these mega projects. We had labor high companies in
Speaker 3: bed because they see for me you sometimes in bed
Speaker 3: with gangland figures, win contracts, turning over literally billions of dollars.
Speaker 4: And this was only possible because the labor.
Speaker 3: Government gave the see for me the big green light
Speaker 3: to do what it please on these tax co funded projects.
Speaker 4: So that's what happened.
Speaker 3: Who's responsible, well, the politician had to give back green
Speaker 3: light to thinker Allen either gave the greend light wittingly
Speaker 3: recklessly by not stopping it when there was a kill.
Speaker 4: Daniel Andrews had.
Speaker 3: Prying there before her must have known something about this,
Speaker 3: and if he didn't, his negligent. The public servants enter
Speaker 3: into the politicians, what did they know? We know they
Speaker 3: tried to raise the alarm and were we suspect ignored?
Speaker 3: But did they try hard enough? With the acting with
Speaker 3: fear without fail. They're doing their job as public servants.
Speaker 3: And then all the way down the companies that profited
Speaker 3: the union officials have filled their pockets or got their
Speaker 3: mates sweet jobs. Coruptly, the law enforcement agencies that are
Speaker 3: now acting and doing a good job that clevisseeed, we're
Speaker 3: not why did they turn their blind eye said, there's
Speaker 3: a lot to unravel here and the All Commissions too
Speaker 3: workplace to do it.
Speaker 2: Some oral commissions are more successful than others, often due
Speaker 2: to the powers and escape given to them, and give
Speaker 2: him to the commissioner. Do you have faith that Ben
Speaker 2: Carroll will do what's needed so that this for All
Speaker 2: Commission truly gets to the bottom or what's been going
Speaker 2: on in the building sector? Or is there a risk
Speaker 2: that the new premiere and the government are using this
Speaker 2: for Royal Commission as a way of controlling the narrative
Speaker 2: around this scandal.
Speaker 3: I don't want to sound through cynical, but I don't
Speaker 3: think any Australian would have faith at any politician.
Speaker 4: We'll judge them on their actions at the moment.
Speaker 3: We yet to see what Ben Carol puts into place,
Speaker 3: and he'll be judged on his actions. The temptation will
Speaker 3: be a political cover up in the guise of a commission,
Speaker 3: but I think if he does that, the public and
Speaker 3: the media anyone watching them will be able to see
Speaker 3: what's going on.
Speaker 4: So I think the good news is the elections four
Speaker 4: months away.
Speaker 3: If he tries to do a shifting, it's going to
Speaker 3: be readily apparent. And voters are going to remember it.
Speaker 3: So the pressure is on for this Commission of Inquiry,
Speaker 3: this Royal Commission, to have all the.
Speaker 4: Powers in these to be run by someone who's not in.
Speaker 3: Our labor party stood or a union buster on the right,
Speaker 3: the sort of cursing we might take a coalition put
Speaker 3: in place if it wins power. We need an aid
Speaker 3: political independent corruption who's going to go all the way.
Speaker 4: And if we don't get that, the media will keep during.
Speaker 3: What we've been doing pretty successfully today, it's exposing this
Speaker 3: bess relentlessly, thoroughly, exhaustively until the right outcome is reached.
Speaker 2: Have you created a little shortlist for yourself, Nick, as
Speaker 2: to who you would like to see as the commissioner.
Speaker 3: I think it's dangerous for journalists to start doing those
Speaker 3: sorts of things. It's the job of the government to
Speaker 3: do that. It's our job to hold them to account.
Speaker 3: I know what sort of commission I'd like, Tony Fitzgerald
Speaker 3: of the famous Fitzgerald and Quarry in the eighties and
Speaker 3: Queensland which brought the BLK Peterson government and the corupt
Speaker 3: police force to heal. I think we need a corruption
Speaker 3: buster like Tony Fitzgerald, So lots sort of a bloke,
Speaker 3: was he He was a political, he was feelings, he
Speaker 3: was determined, he wasn't scared and he wasn't doing anyone
Speaker 3: any failures, be they senior police or the ministers of
Speaker 3: the day. So we need the same sort of person
Speaker 3: to be running the showdown in Victoria or else we'll
Speaker 3: get a perpetuation of the cover up we've seen in
Speaker 3: place for two years.
Speaker 2: Coming up, the big name politicians and gangsters who could
Speaker 2: be called to testify. Let's talk about who can be
Speaker 2: brought forward before the Royal Commission. Would you like to
Speaker 2: see Jenta Allenon testify and what questions would you like
Speaker 2: to see her answer?
Speaker 3: I don't think it's the question of what I like
Speaker 3: to see her. I think it's the detroiting public must
Speaker 3: see her question. Because she was the Transport Infrastructure Minister
Speaker 3: when all this rot on her projects happened.
Speaker 4: She was happy to cut the records and take the
Speaker 4: political points to doing so.
Speaker 3: But beneath the surface, this corruption was broiling them, becoming
Speaker 3: under control, and ultimately she's got.
Speaker 4: To take the stand.
Speaker 3: The Premier prior to her, Daniel Landryge is also responsible
Speaker 3: ifs not directly just by the words miss the system
Speaker 3: of accountability and responsibility. If the Premier de Cindra Land
Speaker 3: now the former premiere, if she did not know as
Speaker 3: minister what was going on on her projects, then she's
Speaker 3: failed in the ministerial duties. If she knew I didn't act,
Speaker 3: then she's also failed. But she's going to be put
Speaker 3: to the test. Those questions need to be put to her.
Speaker 3: The evidence about what she knew I didn't it needs
Speaker 3: to be uncovered and presented. But also taking a stand
Speaker 3: needs to be people like John Seedga in charge of
Speaker 3: the union when at ran a mark he put in
Speaker 3: place of culture that's for me, you where the law
Speaker 3: was irrelevant and unionists could act with impunity. We need
Speaker 3: other union officials who are running out of control also grilled, interrogated.
Speaker 4: We need the gang Land figures.
Speaker 3: We need me Ghatto on the stand and his dangload
Speaker 3: mates about how they were profiting from the Big Build
Speaker 3: and other major construction projects. We need Bicky Bosses investigator.
Speaker 3: We had the cops up there. You know, the police
Speaker 3: in Victoria had done a very good job over the
Speaker 3: last thirty months, but they're utterly missing in action.
Speaker 4: Before.
Speaker 3: So while weren't the police doing that job while was
Speaker 3: in work state? How health and safety regulations on workplaces?
Speaker 3: While was it allowing gang land figures biking to be
Speaker 3: in charge of health and safety on these major government sites.
Speaker 3: Really an extraordinary situation that was allowed to take hold.
Speaker 3: So worksape needs to habits people up on them on
Speaker 3: the stand. There's many peoples. I forget those company bosses
Speaker 3: that have profited and massively flow the big build These
Speaker 3: are companies that sometimes employed well known members of outline
Speaker 3: motorcycle games.
Speaker 4: Why'd they do that?
Speaker 3: Because they knew they keep digging it on side, the
Speaker 3: money would keep flying to their coffers.
Speaker 4: They have to be held to account as well.
Speaker 2: Even covered so much. But do you think that there's
Speaker 2: more to this story? Could there be more bombshells to
Speaker 2: come out through a raw commission.
Speaker 3: I've got no doubt the media at it first gets
Speaker 3: twenty percent of the picture. You know, this corruption scandal
Speaker 3: lies in the heads of gangland figures who profited.
Speaker 4: It lies in the filing cabinets in government.
Speaker 3: It lies in the secret briefing notes, cabinet briefing notes
Speaker 3: that were sent to just interall them.
Speaker 4: And she was Premier and Francesport Minister. It lies in
Speaker 4: bank accounts that we can ever access.
Speaker 3: It lies on phone taps, the conversations of crooks that
Speaker 3: have no doubt they been captured in other investigations, but
Speaker 3: which will relate to this sort of activity.
Speaker 4: There's a lot there that will yet to find out
Speaker 4: about it.
Speaker 3: And I think every Victoria, in every Australian which has
Speaker 3: been paying for these projects feeding this corruption, preserves to
Speaker 3: know what's really going on.
Speaker 2: And what can a good raw commission to do that
Speaker 2: the fourth estate and journalists can't well.
Speaker 3: I think we've seen people like extrain examples, both just
Speaker 3: Into other Than and Mick Gatto have made an art
Speaker 3: form of avoiding questions and coming up with slippery answers.
Speaker 4: And a raw commission puts someone in the box.
Speaker 3: They are under oath, they have to answer questions, they
Speaker 3: can't confuse, and they can be presented with the evidence.
Speaker 3: The law commission horrify, digs up. And what can a
Speaker 3: commission do given those powers? It can find the truth.
Speaker 3: It can hold the allegedly cups who account. It can
Speaker 3: clear people as well. If Justinto Allen has a good
Speaker 3: story to telling, it absolves that are wrongdoing, and I
Speaker 3: doubt it will be the case, but if it does,
Speaker 3: then so be it. The evidence will come out, it'll
Speaker 3: be tested, and we'll find out really who it was
Speaker 3: that has profited him properly and who it was that
Speaker 3: has not done their job as a politician to protect
Speaker 3: the public interest, to protect taxpayer fine.
Speaker 2: And finally, Nick Jeffrey Watson, who was tasked with reporting
Speaker 2: on c ifm AU operations under John Sector, says they
Speaker 2: should build a statue of you because of the reporting
Speaker 2: you've done on this. Well, what do you reckon about that?
Speaker 2: Do we need a big bronze Nick mackenzie statue? Does
Speaker 2: that appeal to you? Would you melt down some of
Speaker 2: your walkleys and use that to build it so it'll
Speaker 2: be as say, as large as the Statue of Liberty.
Speaker 3: And this is the last thing Victoria needs is another
Speaker 3: statue of some one of the halfway.
Speaker 4: No, thank you. Let's spend that money. Let's get the
Speaker 4: best detectives in.
Speaker 3: Their state digging up stuff for our Let's make sure
Speaker 3: this law commission works.
Speaker 4: The journalism played a role, and I'm proud of the
Speaker 4: role I played.
Speaker 3: But I only play my role because brave people especially
Speaker 3: brave unionists, call them out people in the sea. For me,
Speaker 3: you who never took a backward step. He said, you
Speaker 3: know what, I don't want my union getting taken over
Speaker 3: by Mick Atter.
Speaker 4: I don't want my union.
Speaker 3: Getting taken over by a gaddo sicker fans like John Secar, who,
Speaker 3: if he wasn't busy standing under a project, is busy
Speaker 3: standing under his ex wife. What set of a leader
Speaker 3: is that these brave unionists stood up for what was right.
Speaker 3: A nation should be outdated because this is all about
Speaker 3: finding for what's really important, which is honest unionism, something
Speaker 3: I think to Toria needs, but it's got to be honest.
Speaker 2: Well, Nick, thank you so much for your work and
Speaker 2: all this, and thank you so much for your time.
Speaker 4: Thanks for the chance to talk.
Speaker 2: Also in the news, Federal Labor MP Luke Gosling has
Speaker 2: been charged with two counts of assault. The claims relate
Speaker 2: to an incident at a Darwin community event earlier this
Speaker 2: month involving Northern Territory Administrator David Connolly, whose role is
Speaker 2: the equivalent to a state governor. Gosling, who is facing
Speaker 2: two charges of assault. Since he's cooperating with police, he
Speaker 2: has previously rejected the allegations as ridiculous, and Optics is
Speaker 2: being sued in the federal court over last year's fourteen
Speaker 2: hour network outage, which saw callers unable to reach triple zero.
Speaker 2: The communications wash dog AKMA is heading up the case,
Speaker 2: claiming Optus breached its legal obligations around emergency calls more
Speaker 2: than one thousand times. It's facing a penalty of up
Speaker 2: to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars per breach to
Speaker 2: deaths will link to the outage. I'm Daniel James. You've
Speaker 2: been listening to seven AM. We'll be back tomorrow.