A senior minister has launched an extraordinary personal attack on a top silk investigating CFMEU corruption allegations, dismissing parts of his work as “florid ramblings”.
Victorian Police Minister Anthony Carbines took aim at a report by Geoffrey Watson SC that found rising criminality within the state's rogue construction union and linked it to an estimated $15 billion in major project budget blowouts.
“There’s a lot of florid ramblings from Mr Watson but not a lot of evidence," he told reporters outside parliament on Wednesday.
“(Mr Watson) might be good for a quote, but he’s not much good when it comes to coming up with some facts."
Mr Watson fired back saying it was stunning the government would prefer to attack him personally rather than address the problem created in Victoria.
"I'm especially disappointed that they would use that kind of language when neither of them bothered to even contact me to ask me how I went about preparing the report, or what lay behind it," he told AAP.
Premier Jacinta Allan also faced a barrage of questions after the report found the Victorian government "did nothing" to curb rising criminality within the state branch of the CFMEU.
Ms Allan has defended criticisms by arguing she referred all allegations of misconduct raised with her to the relevant authorities, including the Victorian corruption watchdog in mid-2024.
The matter was determined to be outside the body's jurisdiction as it does not have the power to investigate contractors or third parties such as union officials and bikies.
Ms Allan denied she worded her referral to fail, despite former Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) head Robert Redlich saying she should have known the limitation.
“I not only referred these matters to IBAC, you forget and neglect to mention, but I also referred these matters to Victoria Police ... and to the Fair Work Commission," she said.
Pages from Watson's report perceived to be highly damaging to the Victorian Labor government had initially been redacted at the request of national CFMEU administrator Mark Irving KC, who has referred it to authorities.
Mr Watson's redacted draft final report was later released to Queensland's inquiry into misconduct in the construction industry.
The noted integrity crusader, who fronted high-profile inquiries before NSW's Independent Commission Against Corruption, told the inquiry his finding about Victorian government inaction on the CFMEU was a "statement of the bleeding obvious".
The coalition would move a motion in the Victorian upper house on Wednesday to push for a royal commission to probe the allegations, Opposition Leader Jess Wilson said.
"We need, on behalf of Victorian taxpayers, to establish a royal commission to get to the bottom of how big build sites in this state use taxpayer funds to fund criminal syndicates, to fund $15 billion worth of criminal activity in this state," she said.
Ms Allan has repeatedly rejected calls for a royal commission.
The war of words came as a state's trifecta of integrity watchdogs launched a push for a funding overhaul, publishing a joint paper with recommendations to strengthen budget transparency and independence.
Under current funding arrangements, the budgets of the Victorian Ombudsman, IBAC and the Victorian Auditor-General's Office are unilaterally set by the state government.
The paper pitches 12 reforms, including the publishing of reasons for funding decisions, enabling parliamentary committees to properly scrutinise budget bids and public protocols for determining funding.
Ombudsman Marlo Baragwanath described current funding processes as "opaque and shrouded in secrecy".
The proposed changes would ensure Victorians could trust integrity agencies were frank and fearless in their oversight, IBAC commissioner Victoria Elliott said.
Ms Allan said the government would take time to consider the proposed reforms.
