Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to address this matter of profound public concern and urgency, particularly on behalf of the great state—or should I say the once great state—of Victoria. The continued pattern of serious, corrupt and criminal conduct allegations within the CFMEU during a period in which the union is supposed to be under administration—an administration appointed by, supported by and politically enabled by the Australian Labor Party here in Canberra—shows it isn't working. It's clearly not working, because journalist after journalist, whistleblower after whistleblower and small business after small business are coming forward and talking about alleged criminal activity and corruption occurring on worksites with the CFMEU, bikie gangs, organised crime—I could go on and on.

Yet, despite public assurances of reform, what we're witnessing is not a clean-up by the Labor Party here in Canberra; it's an absolute cover-up. In fact today, when they could have been standing up here in the Senate and debating this issue, they've got the newest backbench senator they could find to speak for a paltry five minutes to get the debate off and then they've left the chamber. There's not a Labor senator willing to stand up and argue for the CFMEU and their behaviour or willing to argue for the work of the administrator.

It's another day and another headline regarding the CFMEU and cost blowouts on federally funded projects, especially in my home state of Victoria. As the Financial Review reported on Tuesday, the Victorian Labor government is setting aside another eye-watering $736 million for the North East Link road project. When it was first announced in 2016, the North East Link road project was projected to cost around $10 billion. That estimate then climbed to $15 billion, and by 2023 it had blown out to $26 billion. That's more than double the cost in six years. That's $2.6 billion a kilometre, making Victoria the most expensive place in the world to build roads. But it's not just Victoria that's paying for this, because every Australian taxpayer is paying for the Albanese government's commitment of $5 billion of federal funding to this project.

We know that senior engineering and construction sources quoted by the Australian Financial Review identified costly disruptions linked to the CFMEU's behaviour, inefficient site practices and an absence of competitive tendering as contributing factors to the spiralling budget. I'm looking forward to examining these issues relating to the drag on productivity in our construction sector and in public infrastructure projects in the newly set-up productivity inquiry with Senator Bragg.

What is appalling is that, if you just go a little way outside of Melbourne, our roads are crumbling in regional Victoria. I note that there are some regional Victorians in the gallery today; it's great to have you here. If the President would allow it, I bet they would be yelling about the state of our roads outside of Melbourne. Instead we're spending an additional $736 million on the North East Link road project. That would have paid for an additional five hospitals in Victoria or 15 new primary schools, which our suburbs and crowded peri-urban areas need.

But the state government in Victoria doesn't care about that. The state government, led by the appalling Premier Jacinta Allan, are more interested in keeping their mates happy in the CFMEU, keeping the kickbacks happening and keeping their cosy arrangements through procurement—wink wink, nod nod—so that everybody's pockets get lined. Who ends up paying? It's Victorians, because their roads are worse and they're not able to build the hospitals and schools they need. Who else loses? It's the Australian taxpayer.

Under federal and state Labor governments the CFMEU's toxic reach is now extending to northern Victoria in the delivery of projects like the Inland Rail. We're seeing CFMEU subcontractors prioritised over local companies, which wasn't supposed to happen under this project. Australians deserve to know what you're doing, Labor. (Time expired)