Royal commissioner Dyson Heydon has been refused a copy of an inquiry report about trade union corruption in Victoria.
The previous coalition government in Victoria received a cabinet-in-confidence report by Nigel Hadgkiss in 2013.
The report has not been published, but was reported in the media last year as dealing with alleged kickbacks and bribery in the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union.
Mr Hadgkiss, a former Australian Federal Police assistant commissioner, was appointed director of the federal agency Fair Work Building and Construction in October 2013.
Justice Heydon only became aware of the Hadgkiss report as a result of inquiries made by the royal commission's staff into allegations about trade union conduct in Victoria.
In April last year, royal commission staff contacted the Victorian government to request a copy of the Hadgkiss report, but the request was declined - even for a redacted or censored version.
However, a legal representative from the Victorian government met one of the counsel assisting the royal commission to provide an "overview of the nature of the alleged conduct" in the report, AAP has been told.
The commissioner has not ruled out calling Mr Hadgkiss to the inquiry before it concludes in December this year.
Independent senator Jacqui Lambie is also seeking the Victorian report, along with a copy of the confidential volume of Justice Heydon's interim report of the royal commission.
Senator Lambie says such information is needed to properly inform crossbenchers ahead of a vote on laws to restore the Australian Building and Construction Commission.
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