Victoria brought in the Labor government of Daniel Andrews on the promise of “Zero” payment for the scrapping of the East-West Link project, signed by the Liberal and National Parties during the last days of their government, despite exhortations from the then Labor opposition (now in government). CFMEU opens an all knew leaf.
Most commentators put the cost paid by the Daniel Andrews government for scrapping the project at $1.2 billion, while some Labor supporters claim it to be much lower.
But what should worry most Victorians is the fact, that it is almost impossible to find out the exact cost of that single broken promise.
That gave Daniel Andrews and his team to set their own agenda for the state and in came the ‘Big Build’ of which SRL or Suburban Rail Loop is a huge part. Despite there being question marks raised by the opposition, questioning the ‘sketchy’ business case and the like, (exactly the way Labor was doing in opposition in relation to the East-West link), Daniel Andrews and Jacinta Allan pushed ahead with it.
Jacinta Allan recently signed the SRL East.
As did the Liberals with doggedly signing the East-West link which became a suicide note for their government, Jacinta Allan may have done the same, particularly in light of the allegations of union thuggery, alleged corruption in assigning contracts to particular firms and the opposition’s alleged connections of that corruption adding to the cost-of-living pressures, for Victorians.
And now we hear the salary topping up of some select executives by the remuneration tribunal. One lucky executive, the Suburban Rail Loop Authority Package Director – Tunnels and Civil will take home an additional amount of $63,983 in addition to his relevant remuneration band salary of $401,017.
One wonders how the tribunal works out these top ups. According to the 2021 Census, 9.1 percent of our state’s population or 483,105 Victorians earn that sort of money in a year, yes in 12 months.
Another SRL executive will take home an extra $27,814 above the relevant remuneration band.
According to the Remuneration Tribunal’s report, the Executive Director of Treasury Corporation of Victoria will take home an additional top up of $70,527 over and above their relevant band of $401,017 per annum. This additional amount can almost pay for a whole year’s salary of a graduate teacher in Victoria where there is an extreme shortage of teachers.
These additional payments come on top of an up to 4.5 per cent increase for public sector executive salaries from 1 July 2024.
The Herald Sun recently reported that entry level labourers in Victoria were paid $206,000. In his column on Allan’s ‘go slow’ approach on CFMEU, Shannon Deary wrote: If the allegations are to be believed, bikies and underworld figures are running up millions on Victoria’s tab.
Let’s not forget, we live in a state in which entry level labourers and stop-go workers are being paid more than $206,000 a year.
That is more than double of the entry level doctors and lawyers, who start looking for work burdened with huge HECS debts.
Is that fair? Should that be the case? The answer to both questions is “NO”.
Clearly the government’s priorities are upside down and their heads in sand.
There should be no doubt in anybody’s mind we are in serious trouble, economically. It will transform into social, mental health issues soon, exploding into serious disintegration of our system in the years ahead.
Also reads: Victoria’s CFMEU woes: Coalition fights on, government in damage control
To start fixing, we need a politician, who first has to admit the problem and then think above party politics and beyond electoral politics to begin restoration, of what we once were.
Is Jacinta Allan the one? She is being called a puppet in the hands of CFMEU by Jeff Kennett who says neither she nor Albo has what it takes to chalk out the course to recovery.
Unlike her predecessor, who mastered the art of electoral success, the question for Jacinta Allan, instead of the 2026 election, should be – whether she can clear her name for the record of political history of our state.
Does she want to be remembered as the premier who (along with some of her ministers) knew of the CFMEU problems 2 years before they were aired and did sweet nothing?
Delivering lines for the cameras in time for the evening news is an old trick all politicians use.
And to look in control and authoritative on the corruption by CFMEU on the Big Build sites, the premier said:
“What we’ve seen isn’t unionism – it’s self-interested thuggery at its worst.
“I express my personal and deep-felt disgust at these activities and the people who perpetuated them.
“This rotten culture must be pulled out by its roots.”
In my view, by not setting up a Royal Commission to probe the allegations, Premier Allan has let herself down.
With most projects having blown out, delayed and poorly managed projects and some executives getting salary top ups, more than some Victorians earn in a year, the state Opposition have gone on the offensive.
“The Allan Labor Government must justify why time and again, taxpayers are paying over the odds for executives to run some of Victoria’s most blown out, delayed and poorly managed projects and agencies.” Shadow Minister for Finance, Jess Wilson says.
Interestingly when police, paramedics, firefighters and healthcare staff continue to fight for better pay, Victoria’s most highly paid executives are handed salary top-ups.
Under Labor, Victoria’s public sector wages bill has grown from $18.5 billion in 2014-15 to $36.5 billion in 2024-25. Daniel Andrews was known to have a gigantic private office with list of advisors swelling manyfold. The number of public sector executives was 631 in 2012 and swelled to 1916 in 2022.
The state’s net debt under Labor is heading to a record $187.8 billion by 2027-28.
If the allegations of CFMEU corruption stick, Premier Jacinta Allan will have only herself to blame.