South Road scandal to become subject of parliamentary inquiry

The Malinauskas government's handling of allegations of bikie infiltration into the $15.4 billion Torrens to Darlington project will face more scrutiny, after the Greens supported a Liberal Party push for a parliamentary inquiry.The upper house will on Wednesday vote to establish a select committee into major government-funded projects in South Australia, as the political fallout continues over labour hire company Career Boss Australia, which won a contract in mid-2025 to supply workers for the South Road upgrade.The businessman claiming ownership of Career Boss, Robert Cammarano, launched Supreme Court action on October 12, alleging a bikie had coerced the transfer of company shares.Robert Cammarano (left) claims ownership of Career Boss Australia. (ABC News: Eva Blandis)Those claims, which are set to be disputed in court, were alerted to Transport Minister Joe Szakacs's chief of staff and Child Protection Minister Alice Rolls on September 11.The allegations were referred to the South Road project team, but not the premier. The company's contract was not suspended until the court action was reported by News Corp on October 18.The terms of reference for the upper house inquiry include "allegations of infiltration or improper influence by organised crime" on major government projects, and "when ministers, their offices and government agencies became aware of concerns and the adequacy of their responses".Greens MLC Robert Simms revealed on Tuesday he would support the Liberal party's motion, giving it the numbers to pass in the upper house along with support from One Nation.The Torrens to Darlington upgrade has come under scrutiny after allegations of attempted bikie interference. (ABC News)"We've been concerned about these allegations, obviously they need to be appropriately investigated," Mr Simms said."There's also questions here, too, I think around who knew what when within the Malinauskas government."Asked if the government had offered him anything to vote against the inquiry, Mr Simms said: "No, we didn't have any of those discussions."Premier Peter Malinauskas said the government did not "have any particular reservations around genuine examination" of the issue."But it's also a question of what extent is it being political versus genuine, and that's the examination we have to make," he said when asked about the inquiry on Tuesday.Robert Simms will back the Liberal Party's push for a parliamentary inquiry. (ABC News: Tony Hill)Earlier inquiry voted downOne Nation had also lodged a separate bid for a committee inquiry, but with broader terms of reference, including whether "Indigenous procurement requirements and other preferential tender evaluation frameworks are vulnerable to exploitation".Mr Simms said One Nation's motion was "loaded with a number of erroneous issues" and the Liberal party had played "a straighter bat".One Nation SA leader Cory Bernardi said he was happy to support the Liberal Party's terms of reference."We're happy to cooperate with anyone that wants to see more transparency for taxpayers in this state," he said.An earlier bid from One Nation to establish a parliamentary inquiry into government-funded infrastructure projects was voted down by Labor and the Greens in August, Mr Bernardi noted.Cory Bernardi says One Nation will also support the inquiry. (ABC News: Stephen Opie)"We warned them and they gave a speech saying it was unnecessary, they were on top of it and they were fully aware of all the conditions," he said.Labor, which is two seats short of a majority in the upper house, has previously indicated it is "unlikely" to support the inquiry, given the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) was launching an evaluation of the Department for Infrastructure and Transport's procurement policies.The lead contractors of the Torrens to Darlington project will also appear before parliament's budget and finance committee on November 16.