Backroom Baz: Daniel Andrews’ controversial trip to China still a secret
Premier Daniel Andrews’ trip to China is still being kept a secret from Victorians, as Baz is told strategically drawn out ministerial briefings may be behind the delay in receiving information.
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The release of documents under Freedom of Information laws continues to be a slog in this state. Requests are now routinely taking months to be responded to, and that’s without taking the fight to VCAT.
The release of documents under Freedom of Information laws continues to be a slog in this state. Requests are now routinely taking months to be responded to, and that’s without taking the fight to VCAT.
There’s at least one request sitting with the Department of Premier and Cabinet relating to Daniel Andrews’ trip to China that’s been under consideration for almost six months.
A hint, perhaps, this week about at least a contributing factor to the delays.
Baz is told, very reliably, that requests are routinely briefed to ministerial offices before being sent out. Now while that might be a responsible way of getting ahead of the potential release of politically damaging material, Baz wonders if it’s necessary when it’s getting in the way of the process.
There is certainly no legislative requirement in the Freedom of Information Act for documents to be noted by a ministerial office prior to release.
School confusion
Eyebrows were raised this week when the Premier chose to stand alongside a bunch of prep students while unveiling a new policy to get more teachers into secondary schools. Now, preppies are cute, but was there more behind the decision?
Spies who attended the media event at Point Cook’s Saltwater College say what’s more curious is that 10 of the preps were moved into the class next door for the entire morning of the Premier’s visit. Baz can only presume it was an attempt to distract from the issue of overcrowding in schools.
Still, standing alongside the littlest student made little sense when the Premier and Education Minister Natalie Hutchins were there to unveil a $229.8m package to offer scholarships to students who enrol in secondary school teaching degrees in 2024 and 2025.
Pesutto sweating on vote
Opposition Leader John Pesutto has yet to ink a deal with the Liberal Party over who will pay his legal bills in the ongoing saga of the Moira Deeming defamation case.
Baz reckons Pesutto might want to get his skates on. Next week, the party will vote for a new state president, and one candidate, Caroline Inge, has made her views very clear.
“Under my leadership, every possible resource will be used to campaign and win elections, not to fund the private legal expenses of our parliamentary representatives,” she said in her official election policy statement.
It couldn’t be any clearer that: should Inge beat the only other candidate, former leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council, Philip Davis, Pesutto’s legal woes will be significantly compounded.
Deeming’s husband, Andrew, has also nominated to be elected to the party’s state assembly. He, too, makes his views clear on the current state of the party.
“I believe that the Liberal Party needs to stick with its principles and values and argue them in the public square with conviction,’ he said. “I believe that the Liberal Party policies need to come from our principles and values. I believe that victory in elections will come from listening to the general membership of the party.”
Baz wonders whatever could he be talking about?
Does anyone care?
A High Court challenge over the way in which the state’s anti-corruption watchdog goes about its business would be of keen interest to the state government, you’d think. But no, apparently not.
Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes said this week she had no idea about the case against the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission, and showed no signs of making it her business to find out.
“As AG, I have have some administrative responsibilities for IBAC, I do not have any operational responsibilities, in fact they don’t even tell me what their operations are,” she said.
“I don’t even know what that court case is about. You guys seem to have a better idea on these things than me half the time,” she told pesky journalists.
“If the court case finds something that needs to be addressed through legislation then that is something I’m always open to.”
Legal eagles and politicos alike are watching the case with interest, and particularly whether or not Symes on behalf of the government will seek to intervene in the case.
It’s not rare for Attorneys-General to seek permission to insert themself into a case that could have far reaching consequences. In this instance, IBAC has been blocked from releasing a report following a major investigation in which it makes a series of adverse findings about a major Victorian public figure. But a key subject of the inquiry is challenging the way in which IBAC sought their response to the draft report and has accused the commission of denying them procedural fairness.
At the heart of the case is whether IBAC must give those subject to adverse findings a reasonable opportunity to respond only to comments or opinions contained in a draft report, or also to evidentiary material on which those comments or opinions are based. If IBAC loses, it could force legislative change. Certainly then, the government will have to do something.
‘Lockdown’ nearing end
Anyone with reason to pass Parliament House this week should have noticed something a little different. For the first time in many, many years, we can almost see the entire facade of Spring St’s, and maybe even Melbourne’s, finest building.
Scaffolding that has covered the grand old building has almost been completely removed; sources say by year’s end it will be all gone. Now, don’t be confused by the scaffolding sitting atop the rear entrance of the building, that will be in place until at least April. But the stonework crane that has called parliament home for more than a decade is scheduled to be dismantled on the first weekend of December.
“It’s a good feeling around the building at the moment,” one parliament staffer said. The stonework began back in 2006, when Steve Bracks was still premier, John So was Lord Mayor, and Kevin ’07 was still a glint in the future prime minister Rudd’s eye. How things have changed. The total project is on track to cost almost $90m.
Guess who?
Which MP has been missing in action from parliament for the past few sitting weeks, while keeping a very active social media profile?
Overheard by Baz
“No camels involved here mate.”
– Premier Daniel Andrews denies an education union campaign over teacher shortages was the straw that broke the camel’s back to prompt a new free degrees for secondary teachers policy.
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