Premier, enough with the defence, go on the offence over the Big Build

June 30, 2026 — 7:30pm

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Businessman Tony Paragalli owns labour hire firm M1 Trades & Labour. This would be of little moment to the public. But for this: Paragalli has told The Age his firm had to pay underworld figure Mick Gatto to retain work on Victoria’s Big Build projects. M1 entities paid Gatto more than $1 million.

They had won contracts through the proper channels, but then, Paragalli claimed, “we were blocked from working on sites by the union”. Talking directly with the union didn’t work, so they, like other companies, turned to Gatto, who was able to open the gates for them to do the work they had already won through tender. They felt they had no choice. When they tried to stop using Gatto, access to work sites stopped.

The Age also recently reported that Norm D’Ambra, the owner of Big Build subcontractor Major Cranes, had made payments to Gatto totalling more than $500,000. An Age investigation revealed that D’Ambra paid Gatto to stop the CFMEU forcing his firms off major projects.

These are just two of myriad cases we have uncovered; concerned experts........

© The Age