Rita Panahi: Big problem with Victorian Liberals’ integrity scandal defence

Matthew Guy was keen to trumpet this fact amid the Liberals’ self-inflicted crisis — but there’s one problem with his defence.

If we deserve the politicians we get then Victorians must be uniquely awful.

Just what have we done to be saddled with the almost uniformly inept and unprincipled jokers who populate Spring St.

For the Liberals to find themselves in the midst of an integrity scandal after failing to lay a glove on Labor as it lurches from one corruption crisis to the next tells you how ill-equipped they are to form government.

And, it tells you how brazenly arrogant Victorian Labor is that they are referring Liberal leader Matthew Guy to authorities, including Victoria Police, the Victorian Ombudsman, the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission, the Australian Federal Police and the Victorian Electoral Commission. At this point we shouldn’t be surprised if Labor also refers the matter to Interpol, ASIO and The Hague.

The Liberals’ self-inflicted crisis has seen the Opposition Leader’s chief of staff, Mitch Catlin, forced to resign after leaked documents showed he had solicited payments in excess of $100,000 from a party donor to be paid to his private marketing business, Catchy Media Marketing and Management.

Mr Catlin resigned following revelations he asked a Liberal Party donor to make more than $100,000 in payments to his private business.

The payments of $8333 a month were to be for “supporting business interests”, whatever that means.

In the end, the contract was never executed, a fact Guy was eager to trumpet on Tuesday.

“We’re talking about a contract proposal that was never actioned,” he said.

“I’m telling you straight out. Nothing happened. Nothing was agreed to. Nothing was signed. It never progressed. It was considered and never progressed.”

Only one problem with that defence: it was the rich donor who declined to sign the contract. The only reason the arrangement was not in place and payments weren’t flowing from the donor to Catlin’s private company is that the donor chose not to complete the deal.

If your integrity is dependent on the actions of others, then you’re not well placed to sit in judgment of the ethically compromised Andrews government.

The Liberals must be transparent about whether similar deals were proposed for other donors or business owners.

Labor is keen to present this proposal as an attempt to circumvent the state’s unfair donation laws but the real scandal could be whether these payments would’ve granted the donor special access and/or influence in Guy’s office.

As former opposition leader Michael O’Brien is reported to have said during a meeting of Liberal MPs on Tuesday morning: “This shouldn’t be a place for people doing a side-hustle”.

A couple of hours later, O’Brien pointedly tweeted: “Sick of dodgy politics? So am I. It’s why I’ll fight for more power and more funding for our anti-corruption watchdogs”.

Matthew Guy’s Liberal Party is now in the midst of an integrity scandal. Picture: David Crosling

Former Labor minister Adem Somyurek tweeted: “The bar for what you can get away with in this state is red shirts – it’s a very high bar to jump. Thus I say nothing to see here”.

Let’s not forget that the Andrews government cares so little about transparency and integrity that Premier Andrews last week called John Lenders, the architect of red shirts — who organised the systematic rorting of taxpayer funds — “a person of the highest integrity”.

Meanwhile, Government Services Minister Danny Pearson must have been so eager to fire off his list of 14 questions to Guy that he did not properly read the news report on the leaked documents.

He asked: “What was the donor expecting in return for the secret payments – especially as the payments rise to $20,833 a month for four months if the Coalition wins the election?”

But the payments were to increase only if the Coalition lost the election. Which they no doubt will. And, frankly they deserve to.

What policies do the Liberals have that in any meaningful way differentiate them from Labor? The Victorian wets seem determined to emulate their West Australian colleagues in veering so far Left to guarantee electoral annihilation.

Trying to out-Left the Andrews government will result in the Coalition losing in another landslide, despite the ill feeling many Victorians have for the premier, who inflicted six devastating lockdowns on this state, together with a raft of illogical, damaging restrictions from elective surgery bans to playground bans to curfews.

Instead of formulating policies that appeal to the middle and working-class masses – those who will be most affected by disastrous green policies that will cause energy bills to skyrocket further – the Libs are trying to hold on to a handful of affluent inner-city seats at all costs.

So far, that has meant adopting Labor’s policies, whether they be drastic emission reduction targets or radical social policies from trans activism to a race-based treaty.

To see how directionless and frankly desperate the Liberals are right now, check out their turgid offering on TikTok — yes, TikTok.

The Premier may be incompetent and incapable of sound governance but at least he’s good at politics — more than you can say for the opposition.

Sadly, this great state is served by some of the most mediocre politicians in the country; we deserve better.

IN SHORT

Senator Lidia Thorpe may be a race-baiting dolt prone to juvenile displays of idiocy, but what she and the Greens are pushing in terms of Indigenous policy is not far removed from the Anthony Albanese government. It’s toxic, divisive and self-loathing racism dressed up as empowerment and kindness. No thanks.