Victoria's Big Build royal commission explained

The Victorian government's so-called "Big Build" is a multi-decade, $100 billion construction project comprising new roads, railway stations and tunnels.

But the construction sites around which the Big Build centres have become hotbeds for allegations of criminal wrongdoing, corruption and serious misconduct.

The Victorian government has now called a royal commission into the alleged corruption, with its first hearings to begin this week.

Here's what you need to know about the Royal Commission into the Integrity of Major Public and Civil Infrastructure Construction Projects in Victoria.

Why has the royal commission been called?

Allegations of corruption and the criminal infiltration of the CFMEU and Victoria's Big Build were first aired by Nine Newspapers in 2024.

Among the allegations were claims that bikies and criminals acting as union delegates had received hundreds of thousands of dollars working on federal and state government funded projects.

The reporting led to the federal government placing parts of the union into administration in August 2024.

Following this, the union's administrators tasked Geoffrey Watson SC to report on the way the CFMEU was operating under former union boss John Setka.

Mr Watson found the union in Victoria had "collapsed into a squalid mess" and suggested Victorian taxpayers had lost as much as $15 billion to organised crime on Big Build projects.

He found the Victorian construction division of the CFMEU began controlling which subcontractors and labour hire companies were allowed on major construction sites.

In Victoria, he found widespread corruption "of a very organised kind, which involved not only financial crimes against the people of Victoria in terms of what was going on there, but also sites being used as drug dealing points".

Despite the report, the Victorian government was slow to call a royal commission to investigate the claims.

The topic of a royal commission seemingly split the Victorian government earlier this year, with former premier Jacinta Allan steadfastly refusing to call one despite growing calls from across the political spectrum.

Her ousting as leader and the ascension of Ben Carroll to the top job marked a major shift, with the new premier immediately calling for a royal commission within hours of his election.

What are the terms of reference?

The terms of reference define the key areas of investigation that a royal commission must examine, as well as the timeline it must do so in.

This royal commission will inquire into:

the extent to which corruption, criminal conduct or serious misconduct has occurred on or in relation to any major public and civil infrastructure projects

whether the government or delivery authorities had proper oversight and governance of these projects

the causes and conditions that led to any corruption or misconduct, and the impacts following from it

how contracted firms and companies responded to reports of corruption

how government, regulators and the police responded to reports of corruption

measures that could be taken to prevent future corruption on both public and private projects

why measures introduced in previous inquiries didn't work

ways that public funds lost to corruption and misconduct could be recouped

anything "reasonably incidental" to the above terms of reference.

When are the hearings?

The first block of public hearings begins on November 9 and runs until November 20.

The hearings are open to the public and will be held on Level 9, 54 Wellington Street in Collingwood, with a usual start time of 10am.

The hearings will also be livestreamed for those who cannot attend in person.

A second block of hearings will be held before the end of the year, with the royal commission to continue its work through the November 28 state election.

The commission has already held some closed hearings, where sensitive information that will shape the investigation was aired.

Who are the witnesses?

A range of witnesses from across the construction industry and government will be called during the first round of hearings.

While the list has not been made public yet, we can expect CFMEU members, public servants at the Victorian Infrastructure Delivery Authority (VIDA), ministerial staff and workers at major contracting companies involved with Big Build projects, to be called.

There is a chance former premiers Daniel Andrews and Jacinta Allan will be called to give evidence.

In August, premier Ben Carroll said "anyone and everyone can be called" and that it would be up to the commissioner to determine who and what was relevant to its inquiries, including former premiers.

"If he wants to hear from ministers, former ministers, senior officials, union leaders or company executives, he has the power to call them," he said.

At the time, CFMEU administrator Michael Crosby said "developers, head contractors, subcontractors, labour hire operators and anyone else who had profited from unlawful or unethical behaviour" should be called "if this royal commission is serious about uncovering the truth".