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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Cait Kelly

Organised crime, cost and the CFMEU: why Victoria’s construction scandal is threatening to derail a government

CFMEU Jacinta Allan Geoffrey Watson SC Victoria John Setka The Big Build Big Build Corruption Age Robert Redlich
Deputy Premier Jacinta Allan and Premier Daniel Andrews in hard hats address media at a construction site
Then minister for transport infrastructure Jacinta Allan and then Victorian premier Daniel Andrews at the Arden Street Metro Tunnel station in 2022. Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP

Victoria is in the midst of a historic transport construction boom but what the Labor government touted as the “largest infrastructure build in the state’s history” has become marred by scandal.

The state government has long spruiked its $100bn-plus “Big Build” and its long-term benefits. Yet it is increasingly dogged by allegations of gangland figures and bikie-linked operators securing lucrative work on its projects and allegations of massive budget blowouts due to the allegedly corrupt influence of the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union.

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