The government may have nothing to hide on the potentially prickly issue of any bikie-related intervention on the state’s $15.4 billion Torrens to Darlington tunnel project, but not everyone’s buying it.

It has been clumsy in revealing those who were in the loop over allegations that a notorious bikie allegedly used stand over tactics to have shares transferred into other names in Victoria from a labour hire recruitment firm on SA’s biggest ever project.

Now the Premier has suddenly referred the claims to SA’s Independent Commission Against Corruption which will decide whether there is a case to answer.

There are three basic issues here, including ICAC and a Supreme Court civil hearing, so I’ll concentrate on the third, the political optics of what we’ve seen over the past week.

Whether or not an illegal practice has been transacted here is for someone much better qualified than me to decide.

But did at least two government ministers, who help decide how our money is to be spent, know and share these startling allegations with their boss?

It all started when the lawyer of Unley constituent and Career Boss Australia shareholder Robert Cammarano raised the alarming concerns in the office of new Labor minister Alice Rolls on September 11.

It all remained on the media downlow until the news surfaced in the Sunday Mail eight days ago.

By then it was speeding towards court where 12 defendants, including bikie Jamie Brown, are being sued by Career Boss shareholders claiming they have lost control and their financial benefits of the lucrative T2D contract.

That contract has now been frozen as the court and others deal with the matter.

But let’s turn the clock back a week.

Infrastructure Minister Joe Szakacs was given ample opportunity on at least two Adelaide radio stations to declare when he first knew about this potentially unsavoury development.

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“When I picked up the paper yesterday, the first call I made was to my senior executives and the leadership of the Torrens to Darlington project, so to ensure there was immediate suspension of this,” he initially stated.

Despite his trusted chief-of-staff Daniel Wills having met with the complainant’s lawyer and Minister Rolls in her office, Szakacs was extremely thin on crucial detail.

It was an opportunity to reveal that meeting which had a cascading media effect and on the progress of the massive project.

Instead, he “largely” denied any such knowledge of a bikie link until he had read the newspaper story.

“No, this is a civil case,” he said.

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“Of course we need to ensure a proper case without interference.”

The Premier trotted out the same line within two hours at an unrelated media conference stressing that his first inkling of any bikie connection came via the media.

Let’s generously assume two things here.

Neither the Premier nor any of his immediate staff were in the Rolls/ Wills meeting, so it’s conceivable that no one saw it necessary to inform him of a looming issue where questions were certain to be asked over several days.

But the same can not be said for Minister Szakacs whose initial reaction was that he was “largely unaware” of the bikie link, but he later modified his story.

On ABC radio last Thursday, he was essentially asked the same question from his Monday interview about any prior knowledge.

“So, I first became aware of this civil litigation on the 18^th of October when I picked up the Sunday Mail which was raised as some hearsay with my staff a few weeks before that and we acted immediately,” he said.

“Hearsay” seems to be a convenient, but incorrect term to describe the lawyer’s official on-the record chat with the government.

From the word go it seemed inconceivable that Daniel Wills did not report every piece of information from that September 11 meeting back to his boss.

Wasn’t that the entire purpose of the fact-finding mission which bore such a serious grievance?

Now Szakacs says his staff member, presumably Wills, advised him on September 14 of the rapidly brewing stoush allegedly involving the bikie.

Presumably, Wills also had new minister Rolls in the room as a witness, the local member, a government minister and someone who is an astute, qualified lawyer.

Any allegations of impropriety or industrial bullying linked to the tunnel work site, of which there would have been plenty, should have sounded alarm bells all the way to the Premier’s office.

Don’t forget, industrial red flags were largely ignored in Victoria until a Royal Commission into the integrity of major taxpayer funded projects was established three months ago.

It’s investigating possible corruption and criminal conduct linked to the CMFEU.

Premier Malinauskas has signalled that any dodgy union behaviour here won’t be accepted under any circumstances, aka “zero tolerance.”

So, it also seems strange that Joe Szackas or Alice Rolls, armed with the bombshell claims from the September meeting, wouldn’t have had a private discussion with the Premier or opened it up to the entire cabinet as an urgent matter.

The Premier has since spoken to the Minister about his lack of communication but fell short of saying he gave him a kick in the backside.

The government would have preferred to keep a lid on this until a time of its choosing.

The spin continues that all official reporting procedures were dealt with.

But does that mean the media and public do not have a right to know the substance of the serious allegations?

It inevitably creates an air of suspicion that total transparency has effectively gone out the window.

You can be guaranteed the Opposition isn’t going to let the matter rest there.

Already Shadow Attorney-General Josh Teague has called for Joe Szakacs to resign or be stood down by the Premier, given what we know so far.

Leader Ashton Hurn has also been arguing, until she’s blue in the face, that something doesn’t add up.

She knows the political ropes better than most.

When I asked if the Premier should have been immediately told of such developments by his ministers, her reply was one word.

“Absolutely,” she said.

The potential problem for the government over this, or other contracts, is that it’s hard to stop minor or some major corrupt practices on large scale construction sites.

It simply comes down to keeping track of every dollar spent or every person who pockets the taxpayer dollars.

The tunnels won’t be completed until 2031 as the funding steadily drips toward an exhausted budget of $15.4 billion.

And don’t forget the new Women’s and Children’s Hospital has barely started.

Such landmark projects strike me as sitting ducks for further allegations, true or false, or dodgy practices.

It’s our money, but some see it as easy pickings to get the job completed on time by whatever means you get there.

Mike Smithson is also weekend presenter and political analyst for 7News.