Victoria’s anti-corruption watchdog body has discovered “serious” and “extensive” misconduct by Victorian Labor MPs, but has recommended that no criminal charges be brought.
Key points:
- Operation Watts was a joint investigation between the Victoria Ombudsman and the state’s corruption control body.
- The investigation was prompted by 2020 reports detailing allegations of stacking branches, a process used to recruit party members by paying for their membership.
- Today’s report has issued 21 recommendations to address current corruption risks
The Victoria Independent Anti-Corruption Commission (IBAC) held public hearings in October and November 2021 on the misuse of taxpayer funds and community grants in the Victorian branch of the ALP.
The Prime Minister, Daniel Andrews, was among the dozens of witnesses who were also ordered to testify in private about the Labor Party’s cultural shortcomings.
Known as Operation Watts, the joint investigation between IBAC and the Victoria Ombudsman was prompted by an exhibition by The Age and 60 Minutes in 2020, which issued allegations of industrial-scale stacking of branches aimed at former Minister of State Adem Somyurek.
Somyurek was fired from the cabinet following the claims, while his former faction allies Marlene Kairouz, Luke Donnellan and Robin Scott resigned.
The IBAC and the Ombudsman said that although the identified misconduct was considered “Greek, the difficulties in the trial mean that prosecution is not recommended.”
IBAC Commissioner Robert Redlich said numerous examples of unethical behavior within the party were presented to IBAC hearings.
“The evidence, both public and private, drew a compelling picture of jobs on the public stock market based on faction loyalty and widespread misuse of public resources for political purposes,” he said.
The IBAC investigation followed allegations of stacking branches against former Minister Adem Somyurek. (AAP: James Ross)
The report made 21 recommendations, including the establishment of a Parliamentary Ethics Committee and a Parliamentary Integrity Commissioner, and the reform of Parliament’s privileges committee to reduce the dominance of the majority party.
“Here is a set of reforms that we would like to see implemented and not chosen, but taken as a package. They would treat what we see as the widespread corruption that this case exposed,” the village advocate, Deborah Glass.
“Despite the findings of this report we believe that the majority of members of parliament, despite their affiliation with a party, are really looking to advance in the public interest. We encourage them to demonstrate this by supporting these reforms.”
Corruption “deeply detrimental” says the IBAC
The anti-corruption watchdog said the investigation also found no examples of “traditional” corruption, and decision-making was said to be within the “gray” corruption zone that benefited lawmakers’ associates, but not it was criminal conduct.
However, he warned that corruption could have a “profoundly detrimental” effect on public confidence in democracy and its institutions.
The report highlighted how little had changed since the 2018 ombudsman report on the so-called “red shirt” scandal, which saw Labor campaign organizers being employed as civil servants. the electorate before the 2014 elections.
“Complaints of misconduct by our elected representatives still generate a disproportionate number of media headlines,” the report found.
The Prime Minister, Daniel Andrews, was among the dozens of witnesses who were ordered to testify in private about the Labor Party’s cultural shortcomings. (AAP: James Ross)
Despite the findings of the report, Ms. Glass said he saw no value in continuing to investigate further about the issues discovered.
“I would have thought it was time for parliament to put its house in order in relation to its own integrity instead of initiating further investigations,” he said.
“These should not be issues of the ombudsman or issues of the IBAC, nor necessarily issues of the police, they should be matters of parliament to care about ethical standards and obligations.”
Party factions use the stacking of branches to recruit members, often paying for their membership, to accumulate internal political power and influence the pre-selection of candidates.
The practice is not illegal, but it goes against the rules of the Labor Party.
In a draft report leaked in April, the IBAC found that there was an unethical culture integrated into the party and that its leaders had accepted it for years.
Somyurek has denied all allegations of stacking branches, but admitted to the 2021 IBAC investigation that he hired faction agents to work at his polling station.