Michael O’Brien: Victorians get glimpse of true Labor government
Victorians have had a peek behind the curtain at the people who are really running their state and it’s an ugly world of backroom deals and factional kingpins, writes Michael O’Brien.
Opinion
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Victorians have had a sneak peek behind the curtain at the people who are running this state. It is ugly, it is politically corrupt and it is the reality of the Victorian Labor Party.
It is a culture that everyday Victorians don’t get to see from Daniel Andrews’s press conferences and fluoro vest media stunts.
This is the truth about this Labor government – it’s all about working to keep themselves in power rather than working for Victorians. It’s about the numbers, backroom deals and factional kingpins.
Last month, 127,000 Victorians lost their jobs. Victoria was the only state to go into recession and this was before the full costs associated with COVID-19 and the bushfires.
Tough restrictions killed off small businesses while others are barely surviving. While small businesses were worrying about their livelihoods and employees, Labor’s Small Business Minister Adem Somyurek was worrying about dropping off bags of cash in car parks for Labor Party memberships. After a decade of Andrews as Labor Leader, this is the culture that Labor reflects.
This is not the first time Andrews has overseen a taxpayer funded corruption scandal. Remember the “Red Shirts” scandal where Labor was found to have abused taxpayer resources to get elected in 2014? The Ombudsman made Labor pay back $388,000 and ministers refused to be interviewed by police for a criminal investigation.
Andrews has led Victorian Labor for 10 years while corruption and bullying has been swept under the carpet – the responsibility sits with him.
Most Victorians who watched Sunday’s story and who have any sense of right and wrong would be shocked. It was appalling conduct. But the fact is it is not new.
Andrews sacked Somyurek once from the ministry and then he brought him back. He called him his very good friend. He said he was a better man. This goes to Andrews’s judgment and the standard he accepts.
While the focus has been on Somyurek let’s not forget about others who have been involved. Marlene Kairouz and Robin Scott were also named in the reports. Andrews thinks their conduct is serious enough to refer to the anti-corruption watchdog for investigation, but good enough to keep drawing a ministerial salary.
The ministers should have stood down immediately and not wait, in Scott’s case, until the end of the day. Their offices should have been secured, pending police and IBAC inquiries.
The only way to clean up corruption is to clean out the Labor government in 2022.
Michael O’Brien is State opposition leader
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