STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS

Ms McKENZIE (Flinders) (13:54): The Victorian Labor government's blind eye to corruption on the Big Build has been detailed time and time again through the work of the Nine newspapers, the Queensland Commission of Inquiry into the CFMEU and once again last night on 60 Minutes,where the practice of criminal infiltration on state infrastructure projects was set out blow by blow.

It seems the only person to have missed the memo on CFMEU corruption in Big Build projects is the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, who keeps pouring taxpayer dollars into Big Build projects. Last night's revelations included pressure applied on major and minor contractors to use the CFMEU's hand-picked contractors at extra cost—pressure applied by the Allan Labor government.

At last count, it is estimated that $15 billion has been siphoned off to the CFMEU and their gangland bikie criminal mates, and federal Labor now wants to implement the exact same system of preferential deals at the federal level. Last week in this place, we debated laws that would allow the Commonwealth to discriminate against businesses that don't make deals with unions when awarding taxpayer funded contracts.

Can they not see this will entrench the very culture that has driven corruption, crime and cost blowouts in Victoria? Governments should never create a system where political connections or union preferences matter more than merit and value for money. But Labor keeps giving the CFMEU free pass.

Why? Because Labor is the political— (Time expired)