US-style laws proposed to tackle Big Build corruption in Victoria

A police taskforce will claw back money and seize assets related to Big Build corruption under US-style anti-mafia laws to bring down crime bosses if the Coalition wins the November state election.

Opposition Leader Jess Wilson is set to announce measures on Tuesday to tackle organised crime and corruption in government projects, with some pushed in parliament this week as private bills.

The announcement comes after the Allan government moved to avoid an embarrassing vote on integrity on Monday, the same afternoon that Victoria’s anti-corruption watchdog renewed calls for stronger powers and a broader remit to investigate alleged wrongdoing on taxpayer-funded projects.

Wilson will seize on the findings of integrity expert Geoffrey Watson’s report into the CFMEU, released last month and prompted by this masthead’s Building Bad investigation, which detailed a litany of serious misconduct allegations on government worksites, including drug distribution and sexual exploitation.

Among the proposed policies to be unveiled is a commitment to introduce racketeering laws, targeted at crime bosses similar to those used in the United States to fight the mafia.

In the US, this is enforced using a list of specific “qualifying offences” linked to organised crime, which can include extortion, fraud, bribery and money laundering.

If a person commits two of these offences within 10 years of each other, they would be charged with racketeering if it can be proven this behaviour was part of a pattern linked to a criminal enterprise or organisation. Punishments can include fines up to $25,000 or up to 20 years in prison.

Watson’s report alleged several “rackets” involving the CFMEU, including extortion, fake debt collection and the shutdown of projects for contractors who did not pay for mediation or retainers.

These rules were proposed by the federal Coalition in March 2025 but would be implemented at a state level under a Wilson government.

In the original version of Watson’s report, he estimated the cost of CFMEU corruption could be roughly $15 billion across a $100 billion Big Build pipeline, a figure Premier Jacinta Allan has denied as untested.

If elected, Wilson will also set up a taskforce run by Victoria Police that works with the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Tax Office to seize assets related to criminality and fraud identified in Watson’s report.

Under laws passed in 2024, Victoria already has powers to do this and the policy would not require new legislation. Instead, police would be tasked with clawing back the money and given the resources to do so.

Attorney-General Sonya Kilkenny confirmed the government would carve its anti-vilification reform – pursued following the Bondi terror attack – out of an omnibus bill to avoid a Greens amendment that would expand the remit of the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC).

The decision was announced just an hour after IBAC renewed calls for expanded powers so it could probe Big Build projects, after determining in 2024 a referral from the premier was outside its jurisdiction.

The parliament’s bipartisan integrity and oversight committee in December recommended IBAC be granted powers to investigate misconduct that doesn’t meet the threshold of a criminal offence – in line with its federal and NSW counterparts – as well as “follow-the-dollar” powers.

The government has until June to formally respond.

Kilkenny said the government was considering the recommendations and would respond in due course, but would not confirm whether she supported the changes in principle or commit to making legislative changes before the election.

The Greens said Labor was “running scared” and using a “dirty tactic” to avoid empowering IBAC.

“Labor is pulling out every trick and fake excuse to avoid giving our anti-corruption watchdog the powers it needs to do its job,” Greens leader Ellen Sandell said.

“It’s shameful, but Labor cannot avoid accountability forever. Victorians are rightfully wondering what Labor are trying to hide.”

Shadow attorney-general James Newbury said the decision to delay upper house efforts to reform IBAC showed the premier “will do and say anything to stop Victoria’s anti-corruption agency from being given real teeth”.

“Jacinta Allan is so afraid of shining a spotlight onto corruption in this state that she is willing to effectively block the parliament from enhancing our chief anti-corruption agency.”

Addressing the parliament’s integrity and oversight committee on Monday, commissioner Victoria Elliott restated the need for reform.

“IBAC is seeking legislative reform in relation to the definition of corrupt conduct, clarity in relation to the definitions of ‘public officer’ and ‘public bodies’, and ‘follow the dollar’ powers,” Elliott said.

“In relation to matters such as Big Build, we consider that these [proposals] will enable us to be able to follow the money, as we see it, go in a subcontractor relationship. IBAC’s current jurisdiction only allows us to investigate matters where there is a link to a public officer.”

Elliott acknowledged that more resources would be required if the definition of corrupt conduct was expanded, and if this was done retrospectively.

The Coalition will this week also introduce three private members bills seeking to clean up the sector.

The first would give IBAC powers to track the use of public funds by subcontractors and remove a condition that public hearings only be held in “exceptional circumstances”.

The second will seek to set up a new agency, the Construction Enforcement Authority, which will serve as a new watchdog on projects, and a code of practice will be reinstated for the industry, setting standards for union access, disputes and conduct.

The third will seek to ban bikies and people with known links to organised crime from working on major government construction projects. This would be done through mandatory criminal history checks and by excluding those with convictions or charges related to organised crime, alongside those with affiliations with declared criminal organisations.

Wilson said the opposition’s plan aims to restore voter and market confidence in major projects.

“This is our plan to chase down every single cent of the $15 billion rorted on Big Build sites, get taxpayer money back and clean up Victoria,” she said.

“Businesses will not invest in a state where organised crime runs rampant, and they are forced to deal with criminals.”

The Greens will also bring forward their own anti-corruption bill in response to Kilkenny’s move, which would also strengthen IBAC’s powers and jurisdiction.

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