Two of Victoria’s leading anti-corruption campaigners have urged the Big Build royal commission to look beyond the involvement of crooks and bikies on construction sites to deeper government failures that might have led to massive cost overruns on publicly funded building projects.
Former IBAC commissioner Robert Redlich and former ombudsman Deborah Glass, in a joint statement provided to The Age, welcomed this week’s establishment of the royal commission as a “much-needed step” to restore public confidence in a major infrastructure sector which, according to the Auditor-General’s most recent report, involves $150 billion worth of projects.
They said while the royal commission had been given necessarily broad terms of reference to interrogate extraordinary allegations of corruption on Big Build sites, the inquiry also needed to examine whether the government created the conditions for this corruption by sidestepping its own planning rules in the pursuit of vote-winning projects.
“The terms of reference include examining the role of executive government, which includes ministers and public servants, in its oversight and governance of major construction projects,” they said. “In our view, this is vital.”
“While this is not specified, we would expect that the executive government responsibility for oversight and governance described in the terms of reference should encompass the requirements of a proper business case, consultation, integrated planning and transparency, and the government should make clear that it does so.”
“Ultimately, this will be a matter for the commissioner, but we observe that these are all factors the absence of which contributed to the risk of corruption and misconduct.”
Redlich and Glass’s statement is informed by investigations they led, which documented the creep of “grey corruption”, erosion of ministerial responsibility, politicisation of the public service and the prioritisation of political gains above public interest under the Andrews government.
It comes as Victorian Premier Ben Carroll is seeking to contain the cost of the Suburban Rail Loop, a project Glass examined as a case study of how impartial, public service advice has been marginalised in state government decision-making.
The joint statement follows an open letter sent this month to Carroll and Opposition Leader Jess Wilson by prominent planning and transport experts arguing for the royal commission to examine why the government had failed to adhere to statutory planning requirements when developing and approving major projects.
The letter was written by Public Transport Users Association president Anthony Morton, Rail Futures Institute John Hearsch, Victorian Transport Action Group chair Glenyys Romanes and planning expert Professor Michael Buxton.
“Corruption is an inevitable outcome of governance failure and lack of transparency. A narrow focus on the construction sector will miss the key issue: the deep and systemic governance failure over at least a decade, which has allowed corruption to go unchecked,” they warned.
“Our key concern is that the transport and land use planning process has been captured by political and commercial interests at the expense of the public interest. It will remain vulnerable to capture regardless of the party and individuals in government unless governance processes are strengthened.”
Romanes, a former state Labor MP, told The Age the royal commission should examine how Victoria made decisions to embark on multibillion-dollar infrastructure projects on, potentially, tenuous grounds.
Romanes pointed to the West Gate Tunnel – which toll road giant Transurban pitched to the state Labor government in 2015 as a $5 billion project with zero cost to the state but ended up costing $10 billion with Victoria paying $4 billion – and the under-construction North East Link, another toll road which has had its estimated cost snowball from $10 billion to $26 billion.
“We’d all like to know a lot more about how those decisions are made, and whether we can institute better processes in the future for good decision-making,” she said.
Buxton said the inquiry should examine whether government commitments to major projects were influenced by corporate interests and unions, including the CFMEU, which both benefited from the pipeline of infrastructure work.
“It’s critical to not just look at the criminality,” Buxton said.
“You’ve got to look at why these projects were established, who was involved in the decision to establish them, and what benefits did those individuals or groups potentially have to gain from their establishment.”
The Brumby government in 2010 established the Transport Integration Act requiring the transport department to produce and revise a comprehensive long-term transport plan for the state.
However, it has consistently failed to do so, with the Auditor-General finding in 2021 that the absence of a transport plan during a decade of unprecedented investment in transport infrastructure “creates risks of missed opportunities to sequence and optimise the benefits of these investments to best meet Victoria’s transport needs”. ** **
The Kourakis Royal Commission, to be led by former chief justice of South Australia Christopher Kourakis, was established by Carroll following two years of investigative reporting by this masthead’s Building Bad series into the criminal infiltration of government-funded building sites and the CFMEU militant construction union.
Asked on Tuesday whether the royal commission would look at how governments had selected which multibillion-dollar projects to pursue, Carroll said the inquiry would “shine a light on all… decision-making”.
Carroll replaced Jacinta Allan as premier at the end of last month after she refused to establish an inquiry and made it his first order of business.
In announcing the terms of reference for the royal commission, Carroll expressed his disgust at what had taken place on Big Build sites.
“I’m proud of what our government has done in terms of removing level crossing, building the Metro Tunnel, building world-class hospitals,” he said. “I’m not proud of what has occurred on these sites – sexism, misogyny, violence, thuggery.”
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