Big Build Inquiry: Minister’s Office Pressured Builder, Witness Says
A rail project executive told Victoria's Big Build royal commission on November 10, 2026, that public servants warned his firm would lose future work unless it settled disputes with the CFMEU. He said the view came from the transport infrastructure minister's office.
A rail project executive told Victoria's Big Build royal commission on Tuesday, November 10, 2026, that he was warned the minister's office pressured builder partners to settle disputes with the construction union CFMEU. The Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union is at the center of the inquiry.
It was the first public hearing in which the commission heard witness evidence. The inquiry is examining the integrity of major public and civil infrastructure projects in Victoria.
Joe Aygur, general manager of the Rail Network Alliance, said two public servants at the Victorian Infrastructure Delivery Authority, Damian Brizzi and Peter Wilkinson, told him the firm needed to work through its issues with the union.
"The intent of the words was that there was view in government that if we could not work through our industrial relations matters … we would not win further work in Victoria," Aygur said. He said Wilkinson told him the view came from the office of the minister for transport infrastructure.
Union demands at Gap Road
The November hearings focus on a level crossing removal project at Gap Road in Sunbury, north of Melbourne. The commission has previously heard that union officials unlawfully entered the site and stood in front of equipment during what was meant to be non-stop construction of a rail bridge over 30 days.
John Holland general superintendent Steve Testolin described a meeting on June 6, 2022, at the union's headquarters. He attended with three colleagues, and CFMEU officials Joe Myles and Paul Tzimas were present.
Testolin said his company felt it had no choice but to deal directly with the union because police, WorkSafe and the state government, the project's client, were not supporting it. "We were pretty much being left standing alone," he told the commission.
He said he told the officials to "cut the bullshit" and say what they wanted. The demands were that union health and safety representatives be appointed on site and that union-affiliated labour hire and traffic management companies replace the firms already in use.
Testolin said Myles made clear that if John Holland aligned itself with the union, it would be looked at favorably for upcoming projects, including the airport rail link.
Once the demands were met, work resumed the next day. Testolin said the number of safety concern notices issued by the union fell from 12 a day to one for the rest of the project throughout 2022.
