Rita Panahi: Labor’s rorts-for-votes scheme a carefully planned ploy

WHETHER Labor’s rorts-for-votes scheme was criminal is a matter for the police and the courts — but it was certainly unethical, dishonest and grubby, writes Rita Panahi.

OH, what a wicked web we weave when we first practise to deceive. Make no mistake, Labor’s rorts-for-votes scheme was a deliberate, premeditated plan to misuse taxpayer funds to gain an unfair political advantage.

Whether the scheme was criminal is a matter for the police and the courts but it was certainly unethical, dishonest and grubby.

This wasn’t some happy accident or series of honest mistakes; it was a carefully planned ploy to game the system during a hard-fought election campaign.

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Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. Picture: AAP Image/Alex Murray

If you or I were caught systematically misappropriating our employer’s funds, as the Ombudsman’s report in March found, we’d be sacked with little recourse.

Victoria Police is investigating whether the scheme crossed the line from dodgy to felonious. Conspiracy to cheat and defraud, using a false document and misconduct in public office are among the possible offences, according to a statement from police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton to a parliamentary inquiry last week.

It’s time Premier Daniel Andrews did what he promised when the Herald Sun broke the news in 2015 of Labor rorting taxpayers. Back then, Andrews insisted that Labor had not breached any rules and that he would be fully accountable for the actions of his party.

“There are rules, and they have been followed,” he said. “I take responsibility for each and every thing that happened under my leadership of the Labor Party and my leadership of the government.”

Well, Premier, your words should mean something. If you take responsibility for what has taken place then your position, along with six of your Cabinet colleagues, is untenable. How can government ministers continue in their roles with a criminal investigation hanging over their heads? It’s the height of arrogance to think it’s “business as usual” when faced with such extraordinary circumstances.

Whether Andrews knew of the scheme during its inception and implementation is no longer the key issue. His steadfast refusal to admit any wrongdoing or punish the wrongdoers is a wilful dereliction of duty.

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Special Minister of State Gavin Jennings. Picture: Tony Gough

As leader, Andrews is either responsible for what occurred under his watch or he should at the very least hold the participants in the scheme responsible. Thus far, he has failed on both counts. Let’s not forget that this is a government that promised a new era of transparency, accountability and integrity when it entered office.

I’m old enough to remember Special Minister of State Gavin Jennings saying this in 2015: “We want to be a government that actually rebuilds the community’s confidence in the accountability and the openness of government. We accept the community’s assessment that governments generally have been too reluctant to open decision-making processes to the community’s scrutiny, and we think they have been too defensive … rather than embracing the fact that public scrutiny is appropriate.”

Again, these pretty words should mean something. We now know that Jennings, the very minister in charge of overseeing “government transparency, integrity and accountability”, rorted more than $20,000 in the scheme. And, worse, the government went to extreme lengths to avoid the scrutiny of Ombudsman Deborah Glass.

If those who designed and participated in the scheme genuinely thought that they were playing by the rules, then why the need for cloak-and-dagger shenanigans, including false timesheets? Whether the MPs involved were fully aware of the rorting and the methods behind the scheme is largely irrelevant. Ignorance is no defence to methodically misusing taxpayer funds to help win an election and then doing everything possible to avoid further scrutiny.

For what is just as egregious as the original offence is the astonishing lengths the Andrews Government went to in order to prevent the Ombudsman doing her job. Not only did the its Lower House MPs refuse to co-operate with the inquiry but Labor, again using taxpayers’ money, first went to the Supreme Court, then the Court of Appeal and even the High Court to stop the inquiry.

Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass. Picture: Alex Coppel

In each instance, the Andrews Government’s legal team failed to block the investigation. The full cost of this discredited and ultimately futile legal action is not clear but the figure is estimated to be more than the $388,000 misappropriated in the lead-up to the 2014 state election. And, while Labor has repaid the $388,000, the cost of the legal attempts to bury the Ombudsman’s inquiry remain unpaid.

As it stands, up to 21 government MPs, including Attorney-General Martin Pakula, responsible for overseeing law and justice in the state, face a probe by Victoria Police’s fraud and extortion squad. The criminal investigation could take months. Meanwhile, the state election is less than four months away, with the government entering caretaker mode in late October.

It is promising that there’s been a pledge that all MPs, including ministers, will fully co-operate with police. There should also be an assurance that taxpayers will not pay the legal fees incurred by MPs.

If the individual politicians can’t afford legal representation, then the Labor Party can foot the bill. Having taxpayers pay for party expenses is precisely how we got into this mess in the first place.

— Rita Panahi is a Herald Sun columnist

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