{"id":740523,"date":"2026-06-16T16:49:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T16:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/740523\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T16:49:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T16:49:12","slug":"jacinta-allan-refuses-to-admit-cost-of-cfmeu-corruption-to-taxpayers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/740523\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacinta Allan refuses to admit cost of CFMEU corruption to taxpayers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Embattled Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has refused to provide a figure for how much CFMEU corruption has cost taxpayers in the state, a scandal that has put the government and her leadership under threat.<\/p>\n

Criminal activity inside the construction union had cost taxpayers in Victoria an estimated $15 billion, an investigation by Geoffrey Watson SC found in February.<\/p>\n

Ms Allan has disputed that finding, saying it is untested, and resisted pressure from the opposition and her own party to accept a royal commission into corruption in the state government’s ‘Big Build’ infrastructure program, which she helped oversee.<\/p>\n

In an interview with 7.30, Ms Allan again said that the $15 billion price tag<\/a> for taxpayers was “in dispute”, adding that Mr Watson had since suggested he had been misquoted.<\/p>\n

Loading…<\/p>\n

But when asked multiple times to provide an alternative figure, Ms Allan refused to do so.<\/p>\n

“The work is being done now to go after this criminal behaviour but also to change the culture,” Ms Allan said.<\/p>\n

Asked again about the cost to taxpayers, the premier said police had been granted additional powers to investigate alleged criminal activity by bikie groups inside the CFMEU.<\/p>\n

“We have absolutely acted quickly and strongly,” she said.<\/p>\n

Ms Allan has also agreed to introduce “follow-the-money” powers for the state’s corruption watchdog<\/a> to trace taxpayers’ funds through private subcontractors and labour-hire companies, allowing it to investigate beyond public entities.<\/p>\n

Allan brushes aside leadership speculation<\/p>\n

The massive corruption scandal inside a union with close links to Labor and that has cost taxpayers billions has dragged down voter support for Labor, with a state election now less than six months away.<\/p>\n

The Coalition has vowed to hold a royal commission into corruption on ‘Big Build’ construction sites, a call supported by Mr Watson and which has also won support inside Victorian Labor<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As the Coalition and a surging One Nation threaten to sweep the almost 12-year-old government out of power, Labor MPs are reported to have considered dumping Ms Allan in the hopes of regaining support among Victorians.<\/p>\n

One Nation could disrupt Victorian politics<\/a><\/p>\n

The idea that One Nation could come close to the government benches was absurd six months ago, but it is a prospect Victorian Labor MPs and insiders are increasingly discussing.<\/p>\n

Momentum had been building towards a possible leadership challenge at this morning’s Labor caucus meeting, though that dissipated after her most likely challenger, Deputy Premier Ben Carroll, ruled out a challenge during a joint press conference on Monday.<\/p>\n

After caucus ended without a challenge, Mr Carroll played down prospects of a leadership change.<\/p>\n

“I’ve been a loyal deputy to Jacinta Allan for three years and that remains the case,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Ben Carroll assured Ms Allan on Monday that he would not challenge her for the leadership at a party meeting held Tuesday morning. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

There are two sitting days remaining before the Victorian Parliament rises for a six-week winter break, and the Australian Financial Review has reported MPs lobbying to replace Ms Allan also consider a leadership challenge possible when MPs return in late July.<\/p>\n

Ms Allan told 7.30 she was focused on Victorian workers, including a new push to expand work-from-home rights, “and regardless of what the polls say that is what I will continue to do”.<\/p>\n

“This is about fighting for those working people that need a Labor Party and Labor government on their side, and that’s exactly what my colleagues and I are doing every single day, and we are united in this purpose,” Ms Allan said.<\/p>\n

The premier suggested despite the Liberal Party and One Nation outpolling Labor, they would not be able to govern “without each other”, and that would bring chaos to the state.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Embattled Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has refused to provide a figure for how much CFMEU corruption has cost…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":740524,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[79005,19673,43,16287,1788,1871,44,41,39,42,40,26693],"class_list":["post-740523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-cfmeu","tag-corruption","tag-headlines","tag-jacinta-allan","tag-labor","tag-leadership","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-victorian-government"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=740523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/740524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=740523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=740523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=740523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}