Calls for Labor to return ‘at least $1.3m’ after the damning findings uncovered in the IBAC report

Opposition Leader Matthew Guy says the Labor Party is “acting like a pack of crooks” after Daniel Andrews again rejected calls for the party to pay back taxpayer funds.

Daniel Andrews has again rejected calls for the Victorian Labor Party to pay the community back nearly $1.4 million in taxpayer funds.

The Premier said he had committed to implementing all 21 recommendations outlined by IBAC and the Victorian Ombudsman in their joint Operation Watts investigation.

But he said returning misappropriated funds to the community was not recommended by the integrity agencies.

“I accept full responsibility for what has gone on here but this was not done to benefit the party or the government. This was done to benefit individuals,” he said.

“We may disagree on that, but that is the answer.”

Mr Andrews maintained this was an entirely different situation to the time his party repaid $388,000 of taxpayer money that was misused as part of the infamous red shirts scheme.

Daniel Andrews says Victorian Labor won’t repay the taxpayer money. Picture: David Crosling

“Staff were campaigning for the party, not for themselves or an individual, but for the party, in error,” he said.

“That error was pointed out and the money was repaid.

“These people, in this most recent example, have not been out working for anyone except themselves, and it’s therefore appropriate that you direct these questions to them.

“That’s the way I see things … These people behaved appallingly. They weren’t working for the Labor Party, they were working for themselves. That is my position on this.”

The Ombudsman, in her 2018 report into the Red Shirts rort, made no recommendation to repay the money.

But Mr Andrews at the time told reporters: “Those payments have been made in full after discussions between myself, as the leader of the party, and the state secretary … (It) is the appropriate thing to do in relation to the findings in the report that has been tabled today.”

Opposition leader Matthew Guy said the Labor Party should pay the money back.

“The Labor Party in Victoria have engaged in forgery, they have engaged in financial advantage by deception,” he said.

“If you forged material, if you engaged in financial advantage by deception, you’d be charged – not just have to pay the money back.

“Why is the Australian Labor Party any different?

“They’re acting like a pack of crooks.

“It appears the Premier thinks the law applies to everyone else but himself.”

Calls for Labor to return ‘at least $1.3m’

Labor should pay Victorians back nearly $150,000 used to employ political staffers, who were exposed in a bombshell integrity probe as having done “very little (if any) legitimate work”, the state opposition says.

The Liberals have also called for another $1.2m of taxpayer funds – awarded to factionally-aligned community groups by former Andrews government Ministers – to also be immediately returned.

It comes as they officially referred former Labor ministers, MPs and staff to the Office of Public Prosecutions and Victoria Police for criminal investigation over bombshell findings exposed in the joint IBAC and Ombudsman investigation.

Shadow Treasurer David Davis says the total amount of money in question that should be repaid to the Victorian community was at least $1,348,750.

David Davis says Labor should immediately repay the money. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

He pointed to the Operation Watts report – released on Wednesday – which exposed a “catalogue of unethical and inappropriate behaviour and concerning practices” within the Labor Party that ultimately led to “rampant nepotism, forging signatures and attempts to interfere with government grants to favour factionally aligned community organisations”.

It pinpointed $110,000 was paid to a political staffer who “carried out very little (if any) legitimate” electorate office work.

Another was given $30,000 to send just one work email during his entire period of employment, while up to $14,000 was used to purchase stamps out of Adem Somyurek’s electorate office budget, to use in the re-election campaign of other MPs.

Three community organisations – with links to the Moderate Labor faction and former ministers Marlene Kairouz, Robin Scott and Mr Somyurek – also received substantial government grants.

But the investigation did not establish that those ministers awarded any grants improperly and ruled there was “no evidence that grants were used to facilitate branch stacking”.

Mr Davis said there was no excuse but for Victorian Labor to repay the money to taxpayers.

“Labor are rorting reoffenders and under Daniel Andrews, it’ll always be politics first and Victorians second,” he said.

The Premier on Wednesday resisted calls for his party to repay the funds, saying it wasn’t Labor that had misused the money.

“These people were not working on behalf of the Labor Party. They were working for themselves, so that question would be best directed to them, some of whom are not even members of the Labor Party anymore,” he said.

While those at the centre of the saga were found to have acted “egregiously” by the watchdogs, they didn’t recommend that any of the MPs or staffers face criminal charges.

Opposition police spokesman Brad Battin called on Director of Public Prosecutions, Kerri Judd QC, and chief commissioner, Shane Patton, to launch their own investigations into alleged instances of fraud, deception, perjury, and misuse of public office and taxpayers’ funds.

It’s despite Mr Patton on Thursday telling 3AW he had “already formed a view” of the report and “won’t be taking the matter any further”.

But Mr Battin said a formal review was needed because current legislation limits the ability of IBAC and the Ombudsman.

The Centre for Public Integrity research director Catherine Williams said Victoria’s anti-corruption watchdog is working under a flawed model that makes it too difficult to hand down a finding of corruption.

“It’s a real weakness of the Victorian IBAC that its jurisdiction is limited to relevant criminal offences, and we see it in this case,” Dr Williams told the Herald Sun.

“In NSW, the ICAC is a much more powerful body and it can look at a far greater range of behaviour.”

Mr Battin said Operation Watts highlighted the “disgraceful attitude of entitlement and arrogance” across the Andrews government, which needed to be fully investigated to ensure those responsible faced justice.

“Daniel Andrews cannot sweep this under the carpet. Labor has again been caught out rorting public money and resources for their own benefit,” he said.

‘Clearly corrupt’ behaviour

Victoria’s anti-corruption watchdog is working under a flawed model that makes it too difficult to hand down a finding of corruption.

The Centre for Public Integrity chair Anthony Whealy, QC, said the behaviour of the Labor Party exposed in a joint report by the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission and the Ombudsman, was “clearly corrupt”.

The legal framework around the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission needed to be brought in line with other states to allow it to hand down findings of corruption, even if the behaviour exposed did not meet the high criminal test, Mr Whealy said.

“There is a flaw in the Victorian IBAC legislation that is very different in one respect from all the other anti-corruption bodies around Australia,” Mr Whealy told ABC Radio National on Thursday morning.

“That is, in order for corrupt conduct to be found, there has to be a criminal offence established and that’s not the case in all the other states and territories.

Centre for Public Integrity chair, Anthony Whealy, has called out a flaw in Victoria’s IBAC legislation.

“There has been an investigation in Victoria but the finding falls short of finding that the criminal offence of misconduct in public office has been committed.

“If Victoria had the wider definition of corrupt conduct they (IBAC) could have simply found that this was an example of corrupt conduct because it is certainly that by anyone’s standards.”

Meanwhile, Andrews government minister Natalie Hutchins has admitted she witnessed branch-stacking throughout the party when she was first elected more than a decade ago.

Ms Hutchins, who was recently elevated to the senior portfolio of education following James Merlino’s resignation, said she believed such incidents had reduced over the years.

“Certainly (when) I got elected 11 or 12 years ago, I could see evidence of that in the outer west of Melbourne,” she said.

“I think that’s very much dissipated now through the action that’s been taken by the Labor Party branch being in administration and the investigation that went on.”

Ms Hutchins said at the time she reported the branch stacking to party headquarters, which led to “some actions” being taken through the membership committee at the time.

“I’m really glad that we’ve got substantial change now in the party to prevent that from happening,” she added.

Education Minister Natalie Hutchins said she witnessed branch stacking. Picture: Sarah Matray

“But certainly what has been found through Operation Watts is terrible and reflects on all politicians.”

Ms Hutchins rejected suggestions that wide-ranging reforms to the entire parliament, announced by Premier Daniel Andrews on Wednesday, would punish other parties for Labor’s own internal problems.

“I’d say there’s a whole raft of behaviours that have occurred in other political parties, particularly in the Liberal party, where they will benefit from these changes as well,” she said.

“I don’t think there’s any political party in Australia that is immune from people being ambitious and doing things like signing up to their parties in a distrustful way.

“I think that has occurred in a lot of political parties. I would even say that has happened on occasion in parties like One Nation and in the Liberal Party and it’s time to say let’s put a legal benchmark in place to make sure there is not misuse of resources.”

Asked how Victorians could trust the Labor Party to not engage in dodgy practices again if elected to government in November, Ms Hutchins said: “I think the commitments that the Premier made yesterday in accepting the recommendations means this sort of behaviour won’t happen again because there will be the structures in place to prevent it from happening again.”

“We’ve all certainly taken all of the allegations made in the report very seriously,” she added.

Originally published as Calls for Labor to return ‘at least $1.3m’ after the damning findings uncovered in the IBAC report