A Victorian minister has broken ranks with Jacinta Allan over allegations involving the CFMEU, describing a report about alleged improper government interference on a hospital project as “alarming” and asking a senior official for assurances that no wrongdoing occurred.
The Facebook post by the health infrastructure minister, Melissa Horne, is a public signal of fractures within the government over how to handle corruption allegations on infrastructure projects, less than five months before the state election in November.
The premier continues to resist pressure to call a royal commission into corruption on government building projects, arguing it was not the most effective way to create cultural change.
On Tuesday morning, Allan said a report in the Nine newspapers – in which it was alleged the government put pressure on public servants to dismiss a plastering contractor from a hospital project due to disapproval by the CFMEU – had “no basis”.
“Those reports are wrong, and there is no evidence or basis for that claim,” Allan told reporters. “It is the advice I have received that that claim is wrong.”
Sign up for the Breaking News Australia emailBut hours later, Horne posted a letter she wrote to the head of the Victorian Infrastructure Delivery Authority (Vida), in response to the “alarming” allegations reported in the Nine newspapers.
“Today, after extremely serious allegations, I sought assurances from the Victorian Infrastructure Delivery Authority,” Horne wrote in the Facebook post.
She shared a letter she wrote to the state’s infrastructure agency, which said: “These allegations of interference are deeply concerning and neither I, nor my office, have had any contact with the CFMEU whilst I have been the minister responsible for health infrastructure.
“While this project was completed prior [to] my appointment was as Minister for Health Infrastructure and I was not the relevant minister at the time of the allegations, I seek your assurance that VIDA Health (as the successor to VHBA) has not directed the removal of any contractors or sub-contractors on health infrastructure projects, except for when it has been legally permitted to do so.”
Horne’s letter said the Allan government had already taken steps to protect infrastructure projects from illegal conduct, including bolstered powers for the Labour Hire Authority and launching a dedicated complaints body and police taskforce.
The minister said she wanted advice on “further steps” available to strengthen the oversight of subcontractors on projects, including additional checks on subcontractors prior to appointments.
“The Victorian public rightly expects that our health infrastructure projects are free from the influence of impropriety and corruption,” she wrote.
The Nine newspaper report quoted the former executive director of the Victorian Health Building Authority (VHBA), Stephen King, who alleged he was pressured to sack a plastering contractor for the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear hospital, which was completed in 2024. The contractor was at time in a dispute with the CFMEU, it was alleged.
Allan said she had received advice that there was a dispute between the head contractor and the subcontractor on the hospital project.
“That dispute did not involve the government. It was between those two parties that there was a mediation process that was undertaken,” she said.
The mediation process ended with the parties “parting ways”, Allan said.
It came after the leaders of the police taskforce – established by the Victorian government to tackle corruption on the Big Build – have told Nine Newspapers they do not have the power to effectively investigate many allegations involving the construction sector, as some of the alleged wrongdoing is not a crime.
They have also pointed to the difficulty of finding witnesses due to fears of retaliation for cooperating with law enforcement.
