Carroll should be applauded for his royal commission. But he should also act now

Premier Ben Carroll’s royal commission isn’t too little. But it may be too late.

The good news for Victorians sick of seeing Jacinta Allan shirk responsibility for entrenched wrongdoing on the Big Build is that the new premier has empowered his royal commissioner, former senior South Australian judge Chris Kourakis, to call Allan to testify about the rot she presided over as minister.

We can guess as to Allan’s motive in refusing to call an inquiry to publicly examine why the gangster-infused CFMEU was given near free rein over Labor’s Big Build projects and what this cost taxpayers, but Carroll’s royal commission has the power to compel evidence to make findings about these matters.

Also on the ex-judge’s witness list will be Dan Andrews, gangland veteran Mick Gatto and his good mate, disgraced ex-union boss John Setka, along with dozens of others: the public servants, tier-one company bosses, subcontractors, union officials, and gangland figures who variously contributed to, or hold important information, about how Labor’s election-winning infrastructure scheme became so corrupted it may cost the ALP government in November.

This goes to the “too late” component of Carroll’s royal commission Hail Mary.

If you believe the polls , Kourakis will barely have his feet under his new desk when he is sacked by Premier Jess Wilson after November 28 and replaced by her choice of royal commissioner.

Carroll should be applauded for calling an inquiry with broad enough reach to look under the bonnet of his own government and interrogate his two predecessors.

It is an obviously necessary move given the level of wrongdoing in the building sector and on taxpayer-funded projects, but it is also politically brave because Carroll’s royal commission will inevitably air Labor’s dirty CFMEU laundry.

To borrow the infamous saying from the Vietnam war, Carroll may well be destroying the village in order to save it.

Still, setting up a genuine commission with sweeping jurisdiction gives his party the best hope of avoiding annihilation on November 28.

It is also inescapable that Carroll’s royal commission should have been called by Labor two years ago, or even 12 months ago.

Allan’s refusal to do so, with Carroll by her side as deputy premier, allowed the Gattos of the construction sector to keep getting rich while simultaneously denying Victorians the truth about how their tax dollars were being used.

It is almost farcical that as Carroll was setting out his royal commission vision on Thursday morning, the Queensland commission of inquiry into the CFMEU and building sector was roasting Australian infrastructure firm BMD for hiring a security firm that used three Melbourne Comanchero bikie chiefs to stand over a CFMEU activist on a Brisbane site.

Via the Queensland inquiry (and through two years of reporting in this masthead ) , the public has learnt that the Comanchero gang has been extremely active in Victoria’s building sector. BMD is also making a mint on Big Build projects.