Ex-IBAC boss Robert Redlich slams Daniel Andrews as ‘disingenuous’

Former IBAC boss Robert Redlich has accused the Premier of trying to “disguise” the findings of a probe into the awarding of a $1.2m contract to a Labor-affiliated health union, saying it exposed “serious misconduct”.

Former IBAC boss Robert Redlich has hit out at the Premier, accusing him of seeking to “conceal and disguise” the findings of a recent investigation.

Mr Redlich, who finished up his term as commissioner of the anti-corruption watchdog in December last year, said Daniel Andrews’ response to the Operation Daintree report in April was “quite disingenuous”.

Operation Daintree found the government improperly awarded a $1.2m contract to the Labor-affiliated Health Workers Union on the eve of the 2018 election.

Despite the investigation detailing alarming behaviour by his office and staff, Mr Andrews dismissed that report as “educational”, adding that it made no findings of corruption.

Mr Redlich on Tuesday told ABC Radio that Operation Daintree exposed “serious misconduct”.

IBAC Commissioner Robert Redlich. Picture: AAP

“It was quite disingenuous to say repeatedly, at length, that there were no findings,” he said.

“At every level politics was allowed to intrude to override making a decision which serves the public interest … It demonstrably shows that the decision made wasn’t in the public interest.

“Operation Daintree is the most glaring example of that. We found no crime was committed but we found serious misconduct at every level of executive government which led to the granting of a contract which should never have been made which did not serve the public interest. That’s corruption.

“And we’ve got to stop talking about this notion like the Premier does, that if there’s no crime there’s nothing to be seen here. Of course there is a great deal to be seen … That’s where corruption occurs in the majority of cases.”

Mr Redlich said there was an assumption that the leader of government and their ministers be “open and frank about the failings that have been exposed by an integrity commission”.

Mr Redlich, who fronted a parliamentary committee on Monday, hit out at the Labor members, who he claimed were just “trying to waste time.”

“The four Labor members of the community fully used that time and wasted it,” he said.

“When it came to the crunch, politics again overcame exploring integrity issues.

“Labor members were primed to ask questions which they knew I wouldn’t be in a position to answer.”

Outside parliament on Tuesday, government Minister Harriet Shing — a former Labor member of that committee, who was accused of cutting a feed during a testimony by Mr Redlich — refused to address Mr Redlich’s latest comments.

“I don’t intend to run a commentary on anything which Mr Redlich has said as a private citizen,” she said.

Originally published as Ex-IBAC boss Robert Redlich slams Daniel Andrews as ‘disingenuous’