Auditor-General’s Office report finds Victorian taxpayer-funded ads breached law

Daniel Andrews says he will keep using public money to pay for political advertising, as the opposition pledges to refer him to IBAC over two illegaly funded ads.

Daniel Andrews has rubbished the state opposition’s pledge to refer him to IBAC and the Ombudsman after he vowed to keep using public money to fund political advertising.

A report by the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office (VAGO) this week found two taxpayer-funded advertising campaigns worth more than $13m were political and did not comply with state laws.

It ruled the Our Fair Share (OFS) campaign – which advocated for more Commonwealth funding for Victoria, and ran from April to June 2019 ahead of the federal election – was in breach of rules passed in parliament in 2017.

But the Premier said he wouldn’t hesitate to run a similar campaign, which cost taxpayers $1.7m, in future.

Opposition spokesman Brad Battin on Thursday morning said he will refer the matters raised in the Auditor-General’s report to the Victorian Ombudsman and the Independent Broad‑based Anti‑corruption Commission (IBAC).

Parts of The Big Build campaign were found by VAGO to breach current laws. Picture: supplied

In 2019, the Ombudsman and IBAC wrote to the Premier following complaints about the “Our Fair Share” campaign which did not lead to a full investigation because the complaints “could not be justified”.

The “Victorian Big Build” advertising campaign was never considered by the Ombudsman and IBAC.

Mr Battin argued the matters needed to be reinvestigated.

IBAC have reopened investigations in the past. When an investigation is looked at the first time, it doesn’t make it final. It can reopen them and have a look at them again,” he said.

“Daniel Andrews has come out and said he would continue to do this even after the Auditor-General said it was blatantly wrong. Daniel Andrews can’t continue to spend Victoria’s money at will, when he wants, even when it’s in breach of his own laws of 2017.

“Daniel Andrews can’t pick and choose laws. He can’t create laws and then break them himself.”

Mr Andrews said he would not be lectured by the state opposition “on what’s important”.

“They’ll stop at nothing to protect Scott Morrison. They will absolutely stop at nothing to try and cover up and apologise for the Prime Minister from Sydney for Sydney who is ripping off Victorians every day,” he said.

GUY DEMANDS LABOR PAY BACK COST OF ADS

Opposition Leader Matthew Guy has demanded the Labor Party pay back potentially millions of dollars used in illegal political advertising campaigns.

The Victorian Auditor-General’s Office (VAGO) report, released on Wednesday, ruled parts of the state’s Big Build advertising program and the 2019 Our Fair Share campaign were in breach of current laws.

In 2017, the Victorian parliament passed laws to stop public sector agencies from publishing political advertising by ensuring it was always in the public interest.

The Our Fair Share (OFS) campaign – which ran from April to June 2019 and cost taxpayers $1.7m – advocated for more Commonwealth funding for Victoria.

Daniel Andrews says he would not hesitate to run some of the campaigns again. Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui

But the VAGO report found most of that campaign was political because it could “easily be seen” to promote the current Victorian government while attacking the federal government.

It also found the OFS advertisements, which featured on TV during the 2019 commonwealth election campaign, did more than just state facts and data about government funding.

“The statements about the Victorian government appeared to have a positive tone. They referred to billions of dollars or ‘record levels’ of investment. The statements about ‘Canberra’ were negative. They used language such as ‘cuts’ and ‘miss out’,” the report said.

“Members of the public were likely to find the language in some of the advertisements to be particularly emotive. One of the television advertisements included the line ‘don’t let Canberra shortchange our kids’.”

Minister for Transport Infrastructure Jacinta Allan visits the Metro Tunnel site. Picture: David Crosling

But Mr Andrews defended the state’s spending, arguing the government believed it had complied with all rules and the relevant acts.

“The Auditor General is entitled to their view … We wouldn’t hesitate to run that campaign again,” he said.

“If these issues are important to you, go and have a conversation with Scott Morrison and put it to him that he perhaps should stop ripping off Victoria, and then I won’t have to run ad campaigns calling for a fair share.

“All of this could be avoided – all of it – if we had a federal government that actually knew where Victoria was, cared what Victoria was about and funded Victoria fairly and properly.

“If it weren’t so serious, it would be an absolute joke … no matter who is in power in Canberra, we will never apologise for standing up for our state.”

Mr Guy said Victorians should not be forced to foot the bill for “blatant political advertising palmed off as government advertising”.

“It is worrying to me when we see the Auditor-General no less lifting the lid on this scam … I’d have to say it’s the most damning report on government advertising that I’ve seen in my 16 years in this building,” he said.

“The priorities of this government are all wrong. They are out of time. Their priorities are wrong. They are treating Victorians with contempt.”

Victoria’s Big Build advertising campaign was found to be political. Picture: Aaron Francis

Mr Guy said the Labor Party should be made to pay back any money found to have been spent improperly.

“They’ve got a habit of doing this – treating taxpayer’s money as their own personal ATM – well it’s not. All the while the health system is in crisis, triple-zero is in crisis and women are forced to give birth on the side of the road,” he said.

The VAGO report also found some taxpayer-funded advertisements for transport disruptions as part of the Big Build campaign appeared to be designed to make the government look good.

Despite the Department of Transport and the Major Transport Infrastructure Authority arguing the ads were within the rules, the Auditor-General said a small number of these were more focused on spruiking projects than informing about delays.

Another group was alleged to not mention disruptions at all.

To support this, they pointed to research by DoT and MTIA which tested whether their advertisements had changed perceptions about the Victorian government.

One survey included a question about whether the ads made them “feel positive” about the government.

Another asked Victorians if they knew whether summer disruptions were part of a “co-ordinated master plan” and asked how that knowledge made them feel about the government.

“MTIA told us these questions referred to the Victorian government generally, not the current Victorian government,” the report said.

Originally published as Auditor-General’s Office report finds Victorian taxpayer-funded ads breached law