Matt Johnston: Victorian Ombudsman is coming for the ALP with release of Glass report
THE Victorian Ombudsman’s integrity express is coming for the ALP after chugging down the line for more than two years — and John Lenders’ resignation shows the train must be coming hard, writes Matt Johnston.
Opinion
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THE Victorian Ombudsman’s integrity express is coming for the ALP.
It has been chugging down the line for more than two years, after whistleblowers revealed the party’s 2014 election campaign was partly paid for by rorting taxpayer funds.
LENDERS QUITS AHEAD OF ALP RORTS FOR VOTES REPORT
The fact former state treasurer John Lenders — who was a mastermind behind the successful “red shirts” election campaign — didn’t wait for Wednesday’s release before stepping down as VicTrack chair shows the train must be coming hard.
Ombudsman Deborah Glass has interviewed key witnesses to the rorts-for-votes scheme including, it is presumed, Lenders.
As former leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council, Lenders played a key role in setting up Labor’s Community Action Network.
The Herald Sun has previously revealed CAN field organisers, who were hired by Labor MPs as casual electorate officers, were told not to discuss how they were paid.
This is because Labor’s campaign bosses knew that a salary split — where campaigners were paid three days a week by the party and two days by state parliament — was iffy at best.
According to multiple sources, the man who explained the payment plan, and told them to stay quiet, was Lenders.
On Monday, the Labor stalwart said he was withdrawing from the process of seeking reappointment as VicTrack chair, a role worth up to $89,000 a year.
The reason, he said in a carefully worded letter, was to spend more time with the grandkids and travel overseas.
For some reason, wanting to spend more time with the newest additions in his family was causing considerable agitation within Labor ranks.
Perhaps they know more than we do, for the moment.
Glass’s probe is set to be released on Wednesday.
The central allegation is that hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money was rorted by the Labor Party to help it run a successful election campaign.
There have been a procession of rorting cases in state and federal parliaments recently, featuring helicopter rides, dogs in cars, and dodgy second residence claims.
Each has resulted in punishment for those involved, with voters telling their elected representatives they won’t stand for being ripped off.
Daniel Andrews has insisted no rules were broken in the funding of Labor’s election campaign. Glass is now testing that.
The Premier also said that he takes responsibility for everything that happened under his leadership of the Labor Party.
Let’s see how that holds up when Glass’s train arrives at state parliament on Wednesday.
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