source : the age
Victoria’s corruption watchdog did not investigate a referral from Premier Jacinta Allan into organised crime and graft on taxpayer-funded projects because it was outside their remit.
Allan, who is facing renewed pressure over the extent of CFMEU corruption on the state’s Big Build program, has maintained she only knew of systematic issues in July 2024 following reporting by this masthead.
On July 14, she referred allegations of organised criminal activity and behaviour to favour CFMEU-linked companies to the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC), releasing a copy of the letter on Sunday.
IBAC does not typically comment on its referrals but, because the letter was released publicly, confirmed the matters in Allan’s letter were outside its scope.
“A referral received in 2024 was assessed and determined to be outside of IBAC’s jurisdiction, while a referral received last week is currently being reviewed,” a spokesperson said.
The referral received last week was from Opposition Leader Jess Wilson and Shadow Attorney-General James Newbury.
The opposition has called on Victoria to hold a royal commission into CFMEU corruption.
An inquiry with coercive powers has also been backed by Fair Work Commission chief Murray Furlong and integrity expert Geoffrey Watson, who wrote a report into the extensive issues with the union in Victoria that was released last week.
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor says he will “prosecute the fight” against militant unions, specifically targeting the CFMEU for its influence on major infrastructure and defence projects.
Speaking at the Centre for Independent Studies in Sydney, Taylor was asked how he would address industrial relations and “Canberra fat cats” – public servants – working from home.
Taylor warned that Labor risked handing major sovereign capability projects, such as the AUKUS submarine build and infrastructure at the Henderson defence precinct in Western Australia, to the CFMEU.
He described the union as a militant organisation that has been holding the country to ransom by driving up construction costs.
“If Labor hands these projects over to the CFMEU, then heaven help us,” Taylor said. He credited opposition industrial relations spokesman Tim Wilson for his work in countering union influence and promised the Coalition would continue to fight the escalation of project costs linked to union bargaining.
Taylor was challenged by the emcee of the conservative think thank event, Michael Stutchbury, on whether he had the courage to take on Canberra fat cats who work from home five days a week – a policy Dutton took to the last election before backing down in the face of a union and electorate backlash.
Taylor avoided a direct yes-or-no answer. He instead spoke about “enabling” public servants who are “passionate” about serving the country by making it easier for them to do their jobs.
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor says Treasurer Jim Chalmers risks damaging himself politically if he continues to target the economic policies the Coalition adopted leading up to last year’s election under former leader Peter Dutton.
Taylor was shadow treasurer under Dutton, leading the Coalition’s economic team that opposed Labor’s surprise marginal tax cut during the election campaign, which he has since acknowledged was a mistake.
“If Jim Chalmers keeps attacking me and our side of politics rather than fighting for Australians, I think it will be very politically damaging for him,” Taylor said.
He said the treasurer should spend more time addressing inflation and interest rates than attacking him.
“I’ll be fighting for Australians while he’s trying to fight me.”
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor says he wants to limit migration to Australia based on values, rather than race or religion, following anti-migration rallies targeting specific minority groups.
During the Q&A session after Taylor’s speech at Centre for Independent Studies in Sydney, moderator Michael Stutchbury noted that anti-immigration March for Australia rallies had specifically targeted the Indian community, mentioning that even Liberal-aligned figures like Jacinta Nampijinpa Price had become entangled in the rhetoric.
In response Taylor expressed sympathy with the local South Asian community, and shifted the conversation towards security vetting and radicalism.
“I have a big Indian and Nepalese population in my electorate. [Liberal deputy Jane Hume] … and myself were there yesterday at Oran Park [in Sydney] talking to members of that wonderful community,” Taylor said.
He said that while Australia should not discriminate based on race or religion, it should “shut the door” on people who do not believe in democracy, obeying Australian laws, or basic freedoms.
“We clearly don’t want to let radical terrorists, Islamist extremists, into the country. I mean that is clear. I think that’s a very widely held view across the Australian community, including the Muslim community.”
Taylor was also asked to confirm reports that the Coalition would seek a three-year ban on processing visas from regions associated with radical groups. While he did not confirm the ban policy, he said there were “clearly some high-risk parts of the world” where hatred and violence were more likely to originate.
He called for intelligence agencies to advise the government on where to “shut the door” to individuals who threaten the Australian way of life.
Angus Taylor says families want more choice and flexibility in childcare rather than the standardised model Labor has pursued, arguing the current system is too rigid for modern working households.
The new opposition leader recounted a conversation with a young couple in Goulburn, in regional NSW, who were both working two jobs to pay their mortgage while raising two children.
“Both of them were working two jobs to pay the mortgage, two beautiful young kids, and they were struggling with the inflexibility of the childcare system,” Taylor said, speaking at the conservative think tank Centre for Independent Studies.
Taylor claimed Labor’s approach forces every family into a “universal system” that lacks necessary variety. He vowed to “free it up” and prioritise flexibility and choice for parents.
While not announcing specific new funding or policies today, Taylor promised the Coalition would “say more about this in the coming months”.
The Albanese government has advanced plans for a universal childcare model, which includes a three-day-a-week guarantee for all children.
New Opposition Leader Angus Taylor has used a major speech to attack Labor’s potential introduction of carbon border tariffs while downplaying a policy split with his conservative rival Andrew Hastie.
Speaking at the Centre for Independent Studies in Sydney, Taylor outlined how he reconciled his “anti-protectionist” views with Hastie, who has lobbied for bringing car manufacturing back to Australia.
Taylor described Hastie as a “fantastic member of our team” who was making a “huge contribution”, but firmly stated his own opposition to trade barriers.
“I intensely dislike impeding trade because it helps us. It’s good for us, and right now, Labor is clearly proposing and working out a proposal and initiative to put tariffs on our imports, make no mistake about it,” Taylor said in a reference to the carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM).
The government released the final Carbon Leakage Review report last Friday and it recommended Australia consider a CBAM to prevent local manufacturers from being disadvantaged by competitors in countries with lower emissions standards.
The review suggested starting with imports like cement and clinker, rather than food or general manufacturing. While the mechanism functions like a tariff, the report’s analysis suggested price effects on final goods would be “vanishingly small”.
But Taylor said: “This is bad policy. I mean, this is the same prime minister who came out and said he intensely disliked tariffs.
“That will drive up the price of food, that will drive up the price of building materials, that will make Australians worse [off].”
Angus Taylor has delivered his first public speech as opposition leader at the Centre for Independent Studies in Sydney, where he said the Coalition could fight both One Nation on the right and the community independents on the left.
“We start by recognising the challenge, which is that we do need to change,” Taylor said.
“But the way to get back is to get back to our core values, free markets, economic liberalism … along with making sure we protect our way of life, we protect our core institutions, which have been so central parties and most important as a country over a long period of time.”
Taylor proposed a joint panel of government and opposition members to find practical ways to restrain “inflationary” spending, and noted that Australia is one of only nine advanced economies lacking annual spending reviews. Treasurer Jim Chalmers has already rejected the proposal, which Taylor described as “thin-skinned”.
Taylor went on to promise to scrap “bad carbon taxes” and appoint a shadow energy minister to fight Labor’s “ruinous” green energy policies.
He said the majority of people on the conservative side of politics agreed standard of living needed to be restored, and Australians’ way of life needs to be protected.
“I certainly believe, and I know the Liberal Party believes, that the way to restore our standard of living is to ensure that we have an economy where businesses and households can get on with their lives, make the choices they want without government getting in the way,” Taylor said.
Barnaby Joyce has left the door open to recontesting his lower house seat of New England at the next election as One Nation continues to surge in the polls.
“The plan is to stand for the Senate, but I’ll put a caveat on that: that if we get closer to the day and the party says that they want me to do another job, of course, I’ve got to consider that,” Joyce told Sky News.
Joyce defected from the Nationals in December and said he would switch to run for the Senate in NSW for One Nation. Lower house seats need a much higher vote to win, and One Nation has never secured a spot in the House of Representatives at an election, although party leader Pauline Hanson’s won the Queensland seat of Oxley as an independent in the 1996 election.
Joyce sits in the House but was voted in as a National. He has been the New England MP since 2013.
Joyce said he was confident he could win the seat again but “I’ve to be part of [One Nation’s] process and not start predetermining … I’ve got to also do what’s best for One Nation”.
Thank you for following our national news live blog for Monday, February 16. Here’s what we have covered so far today.
- Coles is facing Federal Court this week over claims it misled shoppers with “illusory” discounts on a range of household goods. The high-profile case, which will serve as a key test on practices across the industry, will put the microscope on whether promotions on hundreds of products were genuine or misleading, and could leave the supermarket chain facing hefty fines.
- Police have returned to the South Australian outback to continue their search for evidence in the case of missing four-year-old Gus Lamont, who has not been seen since last year. Officers from Task Force Horizon will continue to search for evidence at Oak Park Station, a remote area in the north-east outback and the site of the property where Gus was last seen.
- One Nation’s primary vote continues to surge in the polls, and has now drawn level with the Coalition, the most recent polling by this masthead shows. In the first published poll since Angus Taylor deposed Sussan Ley as leader, support for One Nation surged to 23 per cent of the primary vote – although voters appear willing to give Taylor an opportunity to turn things around, backing the Coalition under Taylor by 3 more percentage points than under Ley.
- Taylor has avoided committing to make public the internal election review into the Coalition’s 2025 wipeout. Ley had promised transparency about what went wrong for the Coalition last year, which won 42 lower house seats to Labor’s 94. Taylor this morning declined to commit to the review’s release, repeatedly saying “that’s a matter for the party organisation”.
- Treasurer Jim Chalmers is being urged by the International Monetary Fund in its annual examination of the economy and interest rates to use his May budget to embrace far-reaching tax reform, including an increase in the GST, overhauling the capital gains tax and cutting company tax to lift living standards and get the economy growing faster.
Stay with us as we continue to bring you the latest live news updates from Australia and beyond. My name is Emily Kaine, handing over now to my colleague Rachael Dexter who will take you through the news of the afternoon.
Liberal senator Sarah Henderson has backed Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, agreeing colleagues threw the outspoken backbencher “under the bus” after she suggested Labor was bringing Indian migrants into the country to secure their votes.
“I was quite critical of Sussan [Ley] at the time. I felt that Sussan did need to defend Jacinta,” Henderson told Sky News. “It’s appropriate that Jacinta stands up when she’s called a racist.”
Henderson said Price was a “great friend to the conservative cause” and called for her to be reinstated to a portfolio under new opposition leader Angus Taylor.
“There were many people trying to target her, bring her down. It was completely improper. And I hope and expect Jacinta will play a very important role on the frontbench in Angus’ team.”
