Daniel Andrews’ sarcastic refusal to answer questions over corruption probe

Premier Daniel Andrews has again refused to answer a damaging claim, saying he was “not entering into a debate” as the third day of IBAC hearings begins.

Premier Daniel Andrews has doubled down on his refusal to answer damaging claims that he was involved in a branch stacking peace deal two decades ago.

Mr Andrews on Wednesday again avoided questions regarding the claim from disgraced former Minister Adem Somyurek that accused the Premier, federal Labor MP Anthony Byrne and former politician Alan Griffin of negotiating a temporary deal to cease branch stacking in Melbourne’s southeast.

“I’m not entering into a debate with Mr Somyurek, or anyone, about the matters that have been canvassed on,” Mr Andrews said outside parliament.

“I’ve been very, very clear about this … I’m not going to be debating and getting into commentary. That’s not my job.

“And thank you for the invitation to conduct an IBAC inquiry between you and I. That’s not what’s going to happen here, they’ve got a job to do and we should let them do it.”

It comes after the Premier on Tuesday avoided a question regarding the claim.

There are growing calls for Mr Andrews to appear before an anti-corruption hearing.

WATCH THE IBAC STREAM LIVE

When Mr Andrews was asked outside parliament if he had been part of the deal in 2002, he ignored the question and instead detailed actions Labor had made to clean up the party following branch-stacking revelations in 2020.

A further written request for a direct answer as to whether Mr Andrews was involved in the deal was declined by the Premier’s office on Tuesday afternoon.

On day two of an Independent Broad-based Anti-­corruption Commission hear­ing examining Labor misuse of public funds, Mr Byrne also ­asserted he had seen evidence of branch stacking from factions other than Mr Somyurek’s – including the Premier’s own Socialist Left group.

Quizzed outside parliament about factions and branch stacking, Mr Andrews said: “Mate I haven’t been to a factional meeting … for 11 years.

“I’ll be 50 next year. There’s some stuff yesterday about, you know, way back when in 1999 and 1996 and 1997 when I was 24 years old … and I know all of us like to think of ourselves as very important when we’re 24 and 25 but we rarely are.” He added: “I behave appropriately and it is my practice to follow the party’s rules”.

Mr Andrews denied he had ever paid for other people’s Labor Party memberships.

“I’d expect all my colleagues to behave appropriately at all times,” he said.

In a second day of explosive evidence in the IBAC hearing, Mr Byrne, the federal member for Holt, was accused of sending text messages about cutting a factional rival’s throat.

Premier Daniel Andrews has been drawn into a corruption probe. Picture: David Geraghty

Mr Somyurek’s lawyers read out a text message from Mr Byrne that detailed frustration with former Bill Shorten staffer Steve Michelson.

It included an exchange in which he said “the second meeting is where we cut ­Michelson’s throat”.

Mr Andrews said his government remained focused on managing the pandemic and reopening the state.

He denied suggestions the resignation of former ­minister Luke Donnellan on Monday had set a precedent for any government official to stand down if they were implicated in wrongdoing in any future proceedings. Mr Donnellan ­resigned as child protection, disability, ageing and carers minister after the hearing was told he had paid for ALP memberships.

“I think we shouldn’t be speculating about what may or may not be led … I’m not really here to speculate or to deal with hypotheticals,” Mr Andrews said.

He said while he accepted Mr Donnellan’s resignation, it had come as a shock.

Shadow Attorney-General Tim Smith said the Premier had “many serious questions to answer” and should be called to give evidence during the five-week IBAC hearing.

“He hasn’t ruled out having attended factional meetings prior to 2010,” he said. “Then – as now – he remains a key player in the Socialist Left faction that has been revealed as being deeply involved in branch stacking.

“There is no doubt the Premier should be called to give evidence.”

SOMYUREK’S EXPLOSIVE CLAIMS

Daniel Andrews has been drawn into a corruption probe examining the misuse of public funds by rogue former minister Adem Somyurek. It comes as Luke Donnellan quit Cabinet after an anti-corruption commission hearing was told the Aged Care and Disability Minister paid for ALP memberships.

In bombshell testimony on the first day of the Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission hearing, federal Labor MP Anthony Byrne detailed how he, Mr Donnellan and dumped ALP minister Adem Somyurek had for years bankrolled party memberships to boost their factional support and power in Melbourne’s southeast, against Labor rules.

Mr Byrne admitted the practice – known as branch stacking – as well as the use of publicly funded staff for the rorts, happened in his office and was widespread across the federal and state Labor Party.

In one exchange that could have significant ramifications for the Premier, Mr Byrne said in the early 2000s he had negotiated a branch stacking peace deal with rival powerbrokers, including a parliamentarian who was not named.

Adem Somyurek claimed the Premier was involved in a 2002 branch stacking peace deal. Picture: Tony Gough

After Mr Byrne gave evidence, Mr Somyurek tweeted: “Dan and I went into parliament in 2002, what a coincidence”.

Mr Somyurek later said in a statement to the Herald Sun: “In 2002, Anthony Byrne and I negotiated a deal with Daniel Andrews and Alan Griffin of the Socialist Left to end the stacking wars that had plagued the southeast of Melbourne.

“The Premier and I had long experience of these wars on different sides of the factional divide.

“This deal lasted until the SL began stacking again in Mr Byrne’s seat of Holt and attempted to take over the Right branch in that electorate.”

Asked in June last year whether he had ever branch stacked, Mr Andrews said: “No. I follow the party’s rules”.

Mr Donnellan is the fourth MP forced out of cabinet as part of the branch stacking scandal.

The first day of the IBAC hearing into the scandal had only been running for five hours before he stood down.

In a statement on Monday, Mr Donnellan admitted breaching party rules, which prohibit paying the membership of someone who is not family.

“I accept that I have previously breached party rules while a minister,” he said in the statement.

“But let me be very clear: I never misused public funds or resources in any way. And this has absolutely nothing to do with my staff.”

Mr Andrews said he had accepted Mr Donnellan’s resignation and would not comment further while the inquiry continued.

The IBAC inquiry is probing allegations of serious corrupt conduct involving Victorian public officers, including MPs.

It was triggered after secret tape recordings in June 2020 detailed alleged branch stacking activities involving Mr Somyurek and two allies, former ministers Marlene Kairouz and Robin Scott. All three quit within days.

Mr Byrne, whose Cranbourne West office featured in the tapes, was on Monday the first witness in a five-week anti-corruption hearing.

Early in the day, counsel assisting the commission Chris Carr, SC, asked the Holt MP whether he had an involvement in branch stacking.

Luke Donnellan has quit the Victorian cabinet following allegations during anti-corruption hearings. Picture: Sarah Matray

“I certainly have,” he said.

Mr Byrne said he had paid for some Labor memberships and estimated he might have spent as much as $2000 annually, but this had fallen in the past couple of years.

He said he was also aware of Mr Somyurek and Mr Donnellan paying for memberships.

“I thought the party was completely out of control,” Mr Byrne said. “I saw things and heard things that I just didn’t think I’d ever see in a modern Labor Party.

“I’d heard about them, seen them in the ’90s and never thought that I’d see them again. I’m referring to branch stacking, I’m referring to coercion of staff, being made to do things they didn’t want to do. I was referring to a party that basically was being taken over by one person whose sole agenda was power.”

When asked to name that person, he replied: “Adem Somyurek”.

Mr Byrne said factional party activities had taken place through his electorate staff and alleged Mr Somyurek was directing taxpayer-funded workers to do so, while “ringing people all hours of the day and night pushing people to do things they didn’t want to do”.

“He’s trying to ramp up branch stacking in the southeast apparently. Which is disastrous. Can cost seats at state and federal elections. He’s a vandal,” Mr Byrne wrote in a text to Nick McLennan, who worked in his electorate office.

He also asked Mr McLennan to record the powerbroker’s “lunatic rants” in a message on November 2019.

Mr Somyurek was further accused of asking Mr Byrne to hire Burhan Yigit and Hakki Suleyman without expecting them to turn up for work.

The commission heard money for election fundraisers was put towards membership fees and the people involved in events would have been aware where the money was going.

Other messages were read to the commission showing that factional figures working in Mr Byrne’s office were needed to fill out 210 ballots before Labor’s 2018 national conference. The votes are meant to be completed by party members but Mr Byrne said staffers were told to fill them out instead.

The hearing continues on Tuesday.