It would be nice to say better late than never, but premier deserves no prizes for belated action

June 1, 2026 — 6:17pm

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It would be nice to say better late than never, but even that isn’t true of Premier Jacinta Allan’s decision to finally concede Victoria’s anti-corruption watchdog needs more powers to tackle graft on the $109 billion Big Build.

The problem with Allan’s Monday afternoon announcement is that Victorians learnt IBAC must wait until the end of 2027 to get powers it desperately needs to identify which bikie gangs and members of Melbourne’s underworld have lined their pockets care of the infrastructure scheme the premier previously oversaw as minister.

Even then, a year after this year’s November election, IBAC may not have the powers it needs to do the job required. The devil will be in the detail and that is yet to be fully worked out.

Every Victorian who has been paying attention knows the time for action by Allan was in mid-2024, when it was first revealed that gangland figures had supercharged their unholy alliance with the Labor-friendly CFMEU to feast on the Big Build.

Here are the facts. Bikie gangs placed their senior members, friends and relatives in cushy Big Build jobs, while the CFMEU........

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