Premier Jacinta Allan has added her voice to her ministers’ attack on corruption investigator Geoffrey Watson, SC, as she denied that comments calling him a “headline chaser” and questioning his professional integrity were inappropriate.
Her comments came during a tense press conference outside parliament on Thursday, where she threatened to stop answering questions if a reporter did not retract a comment suggesting she was “disinterested” in the mounting CFMEU corruption scandal.
The Premier also continued to stonewall growing calls for a royal commission, despite the Greens and the crossbench backing a Coalition motion on Wednesday night calling for an inquiry, and rising anxiety within Labor ranks over the scandal’s political toll.
Victorian Labor ministers on Wednesday launched a personal attack on Watson, accusing the barrister and corruption expert of chasing headlines and describing his evidence that the government turned a blind eye to CFMEU corruption as “florid ramblings”.
Sections stripped from the report into CFMEU corruption accused Victoria’s Labor government of turning a blind eye to CFMEU corruption and organised crime on infrastructure projects, at a cost to taxpayers of $15 billion. Watson then gave similar evidence at a Queensland inquiry into the union.
Police Minister Anthony Carbines would not back down from comments made on Wednesday, where he called Watson a headline chaser and said his evidence was “florid ramblings”.
Attorney-General Sonya Kilkenny on Wednesday doubled down on those comments, saying it was reckless for anyone to make unfounded claims of a $15 billion cost to taxpayers from corruption in the Big Build. She went on to say lawyers had a professional responsibility to rely on evidence.
Outside Parliament on Thursday, Carbines intensified his criticisms, calling Watson thin-skinned and responding to the barrister’s suggestion that Carbines was engaging in Trumpist politics as “snobbish”.
“I don’t even know what that means,” he said.
“I just think this all goes to the snobby nature of how people want to behave – if you have evidence, lay it out there.”
He said Watson’s comments demonstrated that “people are pretty thin-skinned and want to make partisan attacks when their homework is questioned”.
Asked whether it was acceptable for senior ministers to undermine the work of Watson, Allan said she disagreed with the characterisation, and she repeated claims that it was “reckless” to repeat “unfounded claims”.
She went on to claim that Kilkenny’s statement did not directly attack Watson and her statement applied to “all lawyers”.
“Those claims that Mr Watson have made have been referred to by the federal administrator [Mark Irving, KC] as unfounded,” Allan said.
“The attorney-general made a really important statement yesterday, it should apply to all of us.”
Three Labor MPs, speaking anonymously to avoid repercussions, said they worried about the impact the scandal was having on the government, and said there was broader opinion that the government needed to act to neutralise the issue.
Even though some disputed Watson’s $15 billion figure, they accepted that it had cut through with voters and was damaging the party’s reputation. Two backed a royal commission of some kind.
All three were supportive of giving the state’s anti-corruption watchdog the power to follow taxpayer dollars to subcontractors – an overhaul the Greens and the Coalition are seeking to staple onto a separate upper house bill on Thursday.
Two other MPs strongly defended the premier and her stance that Victoria Police, the Fair Work Commission and other authorities were best placed to investigate corruption concerns.
Allan said no MP had raised matters with her regarding calls for a royal commission.
“I’m not going to respond to anonymous gossip,” she said.
“But I’ll repeat why I don’t support a royal commission. The claims don’t stack up. There has already been a royal commission that failed and furthermore when Liberals call for a royal commission it’s all about wanting to claw back members’ wages.”
During the press conference Allan threatened to walk off after a reporter told her people were fearful of going to police, and said she looked “disinterested” in the matter.
Allan refused to proceed until the reporter retracted that comment.
The reporter did not do so and Allan eventually decided to push on with the conference.
Be the first to know when major news happens. Sign up for breaking news alerts on email or turn on notifications in the app.
Daniella White is a state political reporter for The Age. Contact her at da.white@nine.com.auConnect via X or email.
