00:01It really does feel like the Premier is fighting for her political life here in Victoria and
00:06these allegations that have been aired in Queensland are incredible and dramatic.
00:10Going from that $15 billion figure, Geoffrey Watson, who's been looking into these wrongdoing
00:16within the CFMEU, suggesting that that's basically been funnelled from Victorian taxpayers direct
00:20into crime syndicates.
00:21Now the Premier today has largely tried to avoid talking about anything from the past.
00:27We tried to press her multiple times on what she knew when, as we have done in months
00:33previous, and each time she tried to direct her answer to the future, saying that there
00:38has been an independent review into the wrongdoing here in Victoria.
00:42There have been legal changes made to basically make that harder for those actions to happen
00:47again in the future and to make it easier for police and other authorities to crack down
00:51on any wrongdoing.
00:53And there were answers that we heard repeatedly throughout this press conference.
00:56And it was the first time that she's stood up since these allegations were made public
01:00yesterday, avoiding the media yesterday afternoon and even avoiding sending out a statement addressing
01:05the issue.
01:06But let's take a sample of this repeated answer we heard this morning.
01:11We are taking action immediately, and most importantly too, supporting the work of the Federal Administrator,
01:18who has a very challenging and difficult job, but he has moved quickly.
01:22These bad actors are not involved in the Union, they are not involved in this industry, and
01:27we are supporting the work of the Administrator.
01:29And I want to make it absolutely clear that I and my government has zero tolerance for this
01:36alleged behaviour.
01:38And indeed, during my time as Minister, when allegations were raised with me, I referred
01:45allegations to the relevant authorities.
01:48Now, this $15 billion figure that's been raised, the Premier takes exception to that sake.
01:54She says that it's untested and can't be relied upon, and that Geoffrey Watson himself says
01:59it is just an estimate.
02:00But what Geoffrey Watson says is that it's a conservative estimate.
02:03When asked whether the Premier would launch a Royal Commission to test that and find out
02:09exactly what was involved in the systematic nature of this wrongdoing, her answer was no.
02:13She says Royal Commissions have been held in the past and are just a delay tactic and don't
02:16fix the problem.
02:17When asked whether she should be held responsible, she's the Premier now, she was the relevant
02:23Minister at the time, when a lot of this wrongdoing was happening, asked whether she would resign
02:29over this, her answer was a very emphatic no.
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