IBAC Andrews government probe not an immediate priority the Premier says

Daniel Andrews says “ordinary hardworking punters” don’t care how quickly his government acts on a damning corruption investigation.

Daniel Andrews has declared “ordinary hardworking punters” don’t care about the speed that the government acts on implementing findings from a damning corruption investigation.

The Premier this week revealed his cabinet was yet to take any action on implementing any of the recommendations from IBAC’s Operation Daintree investigation, confirming the matter wasn’t raised during Monday’s cabinet meeting.

The investigation probed how improper influence compromised a $1.2m contract awarded to the Health Education Federation, a division of the Health Workers Union, by Andrews government advisers.

Asked on Wednesday why the government hadn’t prioritised acting on the 17 recommendations, Mr Andrews said: “If you think that ordinary hardworking punters out there think that’s the No.1 priority, I don’t think it is.”

“There are many other things we need to get on with,” he added.

“I’m not here today to confirm that all 17 of them will be implemented.

“Cabinet will look at those matters … We’ll find a slot for that piece of work and we will do it and we will report progress when we are ready to do that.”

Asked if that meant integrity was not a priority for his government, Mr Andrews fired back: “I didn’t say that. You’d be wrong to interpret what I just said that way.”

The state opposition on Tuesday introduced a Bill to the parliament’s upper house which would request that the government immediately acts on the recommendations from the Operation Daintree report.

Opposition leader John Pesutto said there was “no justification” for the government to delay the recommendations.

Mr Andrews said he would not be taking integrity advice from the Liberal Party.

“Not now, not ever,” he said.

Originally published as IBAC Andrews government probe not an immediate priority the Premier says