Victoria Health Minister Breaks Ranks Over CFMEU Hospital Allegations

Victorian Health Infrastructure Minister Melissa Horne has publicly distanced herself from Premier Jacinta Allan over allegations of improper CFMEU-related interference on a hospital project.

• Melissa Horne wrote to the head of the Victorian Infrastructure Delivery Authority seeking assurances that no contractors were improperly removed from health projects.
• Premier Jacinta Allan told reporters that Nine newspaper reports alleging government pressure to sack a plastering contractor over CFMEU disapproval had "no basis."
• The former executive director of the Victorian Health Building Authority, Stephen King, alleged he was pressured to remove a plastering contractor from the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital project.
• Police taskforce leaders told Nine newspapers they lack power to investigate many construction-sector allegations, as some alleged wrongdoing is not a crime.