An anti-corruption investigation into the stacking of branches and misuse of taxpayer-funded staff in the Victoria Labor Party has detailed serious “unethical and inappropriate behavior” in a scathing report.
The investigation, led by the Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission (IBAC) and the Victoria Ombudsman (VO), has failed to recommend criminal charges.
The report on the corruption investigation, called Operation Watts, was presented to Parliament today.
The IBAC and the Victoria Ombudsman have presented the corruption investigation report to Parliament. (new)
“The report illustrates a catalog of unethical and inappropriate behaviors ranging from hiring unskilled people to publicly funded functions, using these functions to support faction work, nepotism, falsification of signatures, school bullying and attempts to interfere in the government grant process, ”the Victoria ombudsman said. Said Deborah Glass.
Stacking branches is not illegal, but it goes against Labor Party rules.
In particular, the report made adverse conclusions against former ministers Adam Somyurek and Marlene Kairouz.
“We concluded that two members of Parliament violated one or more elements of the Ministerial Code of Conduct and the Deputies’ Code of Conduct, ”said IBAC Commissioner Robert Redlich.
He said the seven public hearings of the investigation showed behaviors and actions “that are not clearly aligned with what the community legitimately expects of our decision makers.”
The report has drawn adverse conclusions against Victorian MP Adem Somyurek. (Jason South)
Redlich said the responsibility for the behavior fell on party leaders.
“While we saw evidence of disturbing practices by staff, most of whom knew what they were doing was wrong, the main responsibility lies with the parliamentarians for whom they worked and their faction leaders,” he said.
“The unethical culture that was a feature of this research, either as an explanation or as an excuse for misconduct, lies in his heart.”
The report identified “serious misconduct” on the part of parliamentarians from the moderate workers’ faction.
“Evidence of the stacking of branches was not limited to one faction. But the evidence of misconduct only concerned the ML faction of the ALP,” the report says.
“We had no specific evidence that would allow us to determine the extent of misuse by any other faction.”
Glass said the report had shown “little has changed” since its report on the red-shirt election problem highlighted the need for reform in 2018.
“The current legislative framework offers few, if any, consequences for the abuse of public resources and allowed the conduct we revealed in this investigation to remain uncontrolled,” he said.
“Confidence in our politicians is declining and will decline further if no real action is taken.
“The case for significant reform is now convincing and urgent.
“Most members of Parliament are genuinely looking to advance the public interest.
“We strongly encourage them to demonstrate this by supporting these reforms.”
Adverse results have also been made against Marlene Kairouz. (The age)
A key recommendation of the report is the establishment of a parliamentary ethics committee and a parliamentary integrity commissioner.
Other recommendations include reforms to the labor agreements of the Department of Parliamentary Services and electorate officials, improved accountability agreements for MPs and ministers, including updates to the Ministerial Staff Code of Conduct, and improved management frameworks. of grants for state and local funders of community organizations.
The research was the first to be conducted jointly by the IBAC and the VO.
Last year, seven public hearings were held for research, while IBAC also held 26 private hearings.
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