Our plan to stop the waste and corruption

For more than a decade under this Labor Government, the purpose of infrastructure has not been to get Victorians off to work and back home quickly and safely, but to chase headlines and – as we continue to learn – keep their union masters happy and well paid with little care for the Budget bottom line.

To some extent, Victorians have tolerated this as necessary for a proud and growing city, even as the blowouts got bigger and the debt got worse.

But revelations that at least $15 billion has been rorted from hard working taxpayers is not something we can accept.

Public confidence in how taxpayer money is managed has been seriously damaged by the biggest corruption scandal in the history of this state.

$15 billion has been lost to the criminal underworld and bikies. Labor can deny, they can obfuscate, but the fact is that it is gone.

And Labor knew.

The Premier, Jacinta Allan, knew.

This cannot be accepted and this cannot go on.

But under Labor it will.

Just this week, as I write this, Labor stood alone in Parliament as every other party followed the leadership of the Liberals and Nationals and voted to give the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) the powers it says it needs to ‘follow the money’ and get to the root of the corrupt behaviour that has cost every Victorian household at least $5000 in rorts.

This says everything about the priorities of Labor under Jacinta Allan.

By blocking this law, Labor has given the green light for organised criminals to continue to rort Victorians’ money on major project sites

This is just another reason why we need a change of government this November.

In the first 100 days after taking office, a Jess Wilson Liberals and Nationals Government will call a Royal Commission in to CFMEU corruption, to end the cover-up that has cost Victoria at least $15 billion.

We will also establish Construction Enforcement Victoria, a tough cop on the beat which will have the powers to clean up corruption on construction sites and end the violence and union thuggery.

This tired Labor Government are more interested in protecting their mates and donors in the CFMEU than they are in protecting your hard-earned taxpayer dollars.

Their priorities are wrong and they cannot be trusted.

Labor has failed Victorians. Only a Liberal and Nationals Government will end the waste, stop the corruption and clean up Victoria.

Evan Mulholland MP is the Liberal Member for Northern Metropolitan Region. •