Bogus email address shows Jacinta Allan’s CFMEU crackdown is a joke

The Victorian premier’s snap review of alleged criminal activity in the construction industry went 11 days without so much as an email address for whistleblowers to use. Until The Australian Financial Review asked about it.

David Marin-GuzmanWorkplace correspondent

Aug 2, 2024 – 12.41pm

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Jacinta Allan’s much anticipated independent review into the Victorian construction industry following allegations of criminal or unlawful conduct on state projects has become a joke.

The inquiry, announced by the premier on July 20 and due to deliver its interim report in four weeks, had been going for 11 days without so much as a contact email address for industry or union players to provide evidence.

Jacinta Allan’s review of the CFMEU was announced with much gravity. It now appears to be a joke. Jamie Brown

That’s despite the inquiry’s terms of reference explicitly stating that it must provide “an accessible and supportive forum for participants”.

It was only after The Australian Financial Review questioned the government on Thursday about the absence of any public channel that it updated its website with an email address for “enquiries”.

Unfortunately, that email address was completely bogus.

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The Financial Review, and industry sources keen to contribute, were treated to a bounceback message revealing their message could not be delivered because the domain did not actually exist.

Even those who want to contribute are reluctant to do so because – unlike the Fair Work Commission’s channels for CFMEU evidence – the inquiry has no mechanism for anonymous evidence.

Again, that’s despite its terms of reference requiring a forum for participants “accommodating their choices as to how they wish to participate in your inquiry”.

Perhaps the inquiry just doesn’t care.

Beneath its bogus email address it tells stakeholders they should really report their claims of criminal activity or corruption to other authorities.

So if sources have criminal allegations, the website says they should report them to Victoria Police – the same police which, as the Financial Review reported on Friday, are reluctant to investigate due to resources constraints and have been referring matters to the FWC.

The Victorian inquiry – which, theoretically, could implicate state government infrastructure authorities and then-transport minister Allan over the way they turned a blind eye to CFMEU coercion on building projects – is starting to appear like smoke and mirrors.

Its email address may not be the only thing bogus about it.

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