Matthew Guy denies Liberal Party leadership future is over, maintains confidence of his partyroom despite calls to quit over donor scandal
Matthew Guy denies his future is in danger and maintains he has the confidence of his partyroom, despite calls for his resignation as Liberal leader.
Victoria
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Matthew Guy insists his future isn’t in danger, claiming he has not been asked to stand down – or heard any rumbles of a third leadership spill – over his office’s donor scandal.
The besieged opposition leader maintained he still had the confidence of his partyroom, despite ongoing questions about his involvement in a proposed scheme in which his now-former chief of staff Mitch Catlin asked a billionaire donor for monthly payments to his private marketing business.
Mr Guy, who has refused to answer repeated questions about the matter because it is now subject to an investigation, said he will announce his new chief of staff in the coming days. Mr Catlin resigned on Tuesday.
The Andrews government referred the matter to a number of integrity agencies this week, with IBAC confirming it was assessing the complaint to determine if it warranted an investigation.
Asked if he accepted that there were “question marks” lingering over his leadership, Mr Guy said: “I don’t accept it at all. No one has called me about that and I don’t believe they will”.
“We’ve got 110 days to make sure the state knows that the most corrupt government in its history gets shown the door. It’s very simple,” he added.
Asked if he would “go if it was good for the party,” Mr Guy responded: “I think I’m going to go back to my office and do some work”.
But several Liberal MPs, speaking to the Saturday Herald Sun on the condition of anonymity, have expressed intense frustration at the situation the party has found itself in, with some annoyed that Mr Guy hadn’t learnt from the infamous “Lobster with a Mobster” saga.
“It’s a disaster. Integrity was one of the biggest attack points we had against the Premier but that’s gone out the window,” one frontbench MP said.
Another said: “This government has been walking around with a huge target on their back, and Guy has managed to turn the gun on himself”.
“My colleagues are getting increasingly frustrated that Matthew can’t put an end to this,” one more added.
Other MPs insist the partyroom is largely in agreement that Mr Guy’s role is safe, with the focus internally on rebuilding ground against the Andrews government ahead of the November vote.
But there’s widespread acknowledgment that could fast change if more damning details were to emerge from the donor scandal.
“(A spill) is not even on the radar. We’ll go to the election with him 100 per cent. There’s no one changing their views because of this,” one senior MP said.
“I’m feeling better than I did yesterday,” another added.
One more said: “We’re focused on fighting a guy that’s stolen people’s money and killed people through his policies.”
Political scientist and Monash University professor Zareh Ghazarian said the Liberal Party’s hopes of gaining more traction by ditching Michael O’Brien for Matthew Guy hadn’t been executed.
“I can’t see whether the Liberals’ problem is their personnel or their policy,” he said.
“But everything has to go right here for the Liberals in order for them to stand a chance at the election.”
Professor Ghazarian said he would be surprised if the party looked to roll Mr Guy so close to an election, noting there were slim pickings in possible leadership candidates to choose from.
He said while this week’s scandal had pushed the Liberal Party back in their quest for power, it ultimately wouldn’t decide the outcome.
“It’s obviously not helped them in any way, but they were already in a really poor position,” he said.
“This is Labor’s election to lose. If the Liberals don’t form government, it won’t be because of this.
Guy ‘compromised’ by donor scandal — minister
Minister for Innovation, Medical Research and the Digital Economy Jaala Pulford says Mr Guy has “compromised” his position as leader of the Victorian Liberal Party and should be “held to a high standard”.
“Early voting for the state election is only a little more than one hundred days away,” she said.
“Matthew Guy is putting himself up as the alternative premier for the state of Victoria,
“It certainly appears to me that he is compromised and these are things he needs to respond to, and if he doesn’t perhaps maybe these are things his colleagues need to respond to.”
It comes after the besieged leader slapped down questions about his leadership fate as “ridiculous”.
Ms Pulford made the comments at a press conference to announce that 12 Victorian medtech manufacturing businesses will share in $3.2m through a grants program geared at boosting the medtech sector.
Anatomics, a Melbourne-based and Australian-owned medical device company, which manufactures and markets patient-specific surgical implants and products, is one of the companies to benefit from the grants program.
The program will allow Anatomics to expand into overseas markets, predominantly the US.
Mr Guy on Thursday again refused to answer questions about his involvement in a donor scandal that resulted in the resignation of his chief of staff.
“The government has referred this matter to virtually everyone under the sun — in fact, everyone except the AFL commission,” he said.
“I didn’t send it off to them. They did, and I can’t run a running commentary on that.
“I will not be lectured by this government on integrity matters.
“I will not be lectured by a government that is fundamentally corrupt.”
It is the same line that Mr Guy has long criticised Premier Daniel Andrews for taking during Labor’s various corruption investigations.
Ousted Liberal MP Bernie Finn on Thursday renewed his calls for Mr Guy to resign as leader of the party.
“If the Liberal Party doesn’t get its act together now, it’s never going to get its act together,” he said.
Mr Guy branded questions about his future “ridiculous”.
Asked if he expected to remain leader, Mr Guy said: “Ridiculous. Yes, of course I do.”
On Thursday, IBAC confirmed it had received a referral from Government Services Minister Danny Pearson.
“Every complaint IBAC receives is assessed in accordance with the IBAC Act to determine whether we will investigate it, refer it to another organisation for investigation, or dismiss it,” a statement said.
“IBAC will be making no further comment on this matter at this stage.”
Finn calls for Guy’s resignation
Expelled Liberal MP Bernie Finn on Wednesday lashed out at party leader Matthew Guy on social media, calling for his resignation in the wake of the opposition leader’s chief of staff scandal.
Mr Guy’s chief of staff, Mitch Catlin, this week resigned after unsuccessfully asking a party donor to send payments to his private company.
Mr Finn, sacked from the party in May after posting on Facebook that he was “praying” for abortion to be banned in Victoria, has this time taken to the social media platform to take aim at Mr Guy.
“The scandal engulfing the Opposition Leader’s Office raises very real questions about Matthew Guy’s judgment, integrity and fitness to hold high office,” the upper house MP posted.
“It’s clear the Liberal Party needs a new leader now if it is to have any hope of dislodging a government that should wipe off the face of the earth.
“Matthew Guy should follow his chief of staff and resign.
“Come on, Matthew. Put your ambition and ego to one side and do the right thing by Victoria!”
Earlier on Wednesday Mr Guy insisted there should be no questions hanging over a donor scandal within his office that has been dubbed a “secret deal to breach donation laws”.
Mr Guy, who only fronted the media when approached as he left parliament on Wednesday morning, said he could not understand why people viewed the incident as a potential corruption risk.
“It’s absolutely not … Shouldn’t it say everything to Victorians that nothing was signed, there was no agreement and nothing followed through,” he told Nine News.
“Nothing proceeded, as opposed to the Labor Party who systematically rorted taxpayers’ money for years and years over two elections. That’s the difference.
“I find it an affront that the government would even have the gall … the gall of the government to say to me that we need to talk about probity.”
Mr Guy would not clarify the sequence of events in which Mr Catlin sent him an email, asking for funds for his private business, to be forwarded to a wealthy donor.
Mr Catlin resigned on Tuesday after it emerged that he had reached out to horse racing identity Jonathan Munz for funds.
As revealed by the Herald Sun on Tuesday, billionaire businessman Jonathan Munz refused the “unsolicited” donation bid from Mr Catlin.
In a statement to the Herald Sun, Mr Munz said: “I do not know how many people received this unsolicited and unwanted email, but when I got it, I rejected it out of hand”.
Asked to explain how Mr Munz received the email, when Mr Guy maintains he didn’t forward it on to anyone, Mr Guy said: “I don’t know the answer to that”.
“I haven’t spoken to either of the two about that and I don’t intend to because nothing was signed,” he added.
Mr Guy said he had only met Mr Munz on a couple of occasions but “I certainly haven’t had this conversation with him”.
He maintained Mr Catlin’s wage was entirely funded through the budget allocated by the Department of Premier and Cabinet, adding that it was all above board.
“There is no question because there was no agreement. You can’t have a question over something that doesn’t exist,” he added.
“This is in stark contrast to the government where there were agreements, where the taxpayer was rorted. That’s very, very different.
“I won’t take lectures on integrity when my chief of staff stood down, and no one from my staff will take lectures from the government when we have done the right thing.
“We have reacted appropriately when there was nothing agreed to and nothing signed.”
Liberals referred to law, integrity agencies
The Andrews government on Tuesday referred the Liberal Party to a raft of law and integrity agencies — including Victoria Police and the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) — to investigate whether any illegal activity occurred.
Government Services Minister Danny Pearson said the matter needed to be probed because Mr Guy had failed to provide clarity on questions.
In a letter written to IBAC commissioner Robert Redlich, Mr Pearson said Mr Guy and Mr Catlin should be investigated for “engaging or conspiring to engage in potentially corrupt conduct”.
“I expect this matter has already attracted the interest of your office as being naturally within the area of its concern and jurisdiction,” he wrote.
In response, Liberal MP Louise Staley on Wednesday insisted her party had not engaged in any “bad behaviour”, blasting the Andrews government as being deserving of a “Commonwealth gold medal for hypocrisy”.
Ms Staley refused to provide details on Mr Guy’s alleged involvement in an internal donor scandal because it was now subject to multiple investigations.
But Ms Staley was forced to defend her boss, who did not front the media on Wednesday morning, stating that no bad behaviour had occurred.
“This did not occur. There are no payments, there is no bad behaviour because it didn’t proceed,” she said.
Instead, Ms Staley hit out at the Labor Party for being hypocritical on integrity matters.
“This government is mired in corruption and has been for at least a decade,” she said.
Ms Staley added that Victorian Liberals are “more than happy” for the scandal to be investigated.
Billionaire donor’s identity revealed
A billionaire businessman refused an “unsolicited” donation bid by Mr Catlin, in a scandal that is now set to be probed by Victoria Police and the state’s corruption watchdogs.
The Herald Sun revealed on Tuesday that billionaire businessman Jonathan Munz was approached by Mr Catlin for monthly payments totalling more than $100,000, which he rejected.
The approach, which was revealed in leaked emails, is now being referred to the police, the Ombudsman, the state’s anti-corruption commission, and the Victorian Electoral Commission.
Mr Catlin tendered his resignation on Tuesday, after it was revealed he had sought the payments soon after starting in the chief of staff role last year — following Mr Guy’s ascension to the Liberal leadership role for the second time.
Reports in Nine Entertainment Newspapers said a legal contract was created and sent to Mr Guy via a private email for him to forward.
Mr Guy said he never forwarded the email on, so no deal was struck.
The Herald Sun attempted to contact Mr Catlin to ascertain why a potential donor was still approached in what appears to be a potential violation of strict new donation laws in Victoria.
Mr Munz, who is a powerful racing identity and made his money as a founder of plumbing manufacturing business, declined to discuss the matter but confirmed he was approached.
The Andrews government said the saga reeked of a “secret deal to breach donation laws” and referred it to authorities.
Mr Guy said Labor was desperate to distract from its own integrity shambles, which recently saw Andrews government ministers caught using taxpayer-funded resources for factional work.
Coalition MPs are openly despairing of the fresh crisis for Mr Guy four months from an election and once again raised questions about their leader’s judgment.
In 2017, Mr Guy was forced to defend going to dinner with senior party donors and an alleged mafia figure.
One MP said it was “absolutely infuriating” and reminded voters of “baggage” Mr Guy carried.
Others said there was no sign Mr Guy was under pressure internally, and that more would have to come out for people to reconsider their positions, while others criticised the appointment of Catlin.
According to multiple Liberal sources, the man Mr Guy rolled to take leadership of the party – Michael O’Brien – indirectly raised the matter during a muted party room meeting.
Mr Guy has pledged to create a code of conduct that would oversee all opposition staff in the wake of the scandal, and that he had taken action to resolve the matter.
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Originally published as Matthew Guy denies Liberal Party leadership future is over, maintains confidence of his partyroom despite calls to quit over donor scandal
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