Victorian inquiry hears contractors were warned over Sunbury rail dispute

A Victorian royal commission has heard that a state infrastructure official said a minister’s office warned contractors they could lose future work in Victoria if they failed to resolve an industrial dispute at a rail project. The evidence raises questions about how government pressure and union involvement affected the handling of the dispute and the contractors’ work.

Former official Peter Wilkinson said his manager, Evan Tattersall, relayed the warning in June 2022, during a shutdown at the Gap Road level crossing project in Sunbury. Wilkinson said the contractors were John Holland and CPB Constructions, and that he passed the information to a project executive; he could not say whether the minister’s office knew they were bidding for airport rail work. CPB delivery director Stephen Villella told the inquiry that workers feared the CFMEU and were pressured not to work, while he considered the union’s safety concerns insufficient to justify stopping the site.