How the ALP pulled off an industrial scale election rort

PREMIER Daniel Andrews praised his network of field organisers as central to his 2014 election victory. But the army of “red shirts” that helped clinch victory were the fruits of an industrial-scale election rort.

PREMIER Daniel Andrews’ unflinching message was “the rules have been followed”.

But behind the scenes Labor MPs were not so sure.

Months before the 2014 state election, about 20 sitting members had been ordered by then Upper House leader John Lenders, to sign timesheets for casual electorate staff they had never met.

The workers were ALP field organisers (FOs) who rounded up 5500 volunteers for the Labor election campaign in Victoria.

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“Daniel (Andrews) was obsessed with the field campaign,” one MP said later on.

“I was very nervous about it, as it didn’t seem right, but we did it.”

“People did wonder but we were told it was all OK,” said another.

It was not until 2015 when whistleblowers exposed the pay scheme for the field organisers, that many Labor MPs realised they had been embroiled in an industrial-scale election rort.

In total, more than $388,000 had been funnelled out of their taxpayer-funded electorate office budgets between March and October in 2014.

The FOs headed up the Community Action Network, known as the “red shirts”.

The money helped pay full-time field organisers — who were supposed to be working part-time as electorate staff, for the Victorian people and not the Labor Party.

The FOs headed up the Community Action Network — dubbed the “red shirts” which had been closely modelled on the 2012 Obama campaign.

The small team recruited thousands of “grassroots” supporters to blitz 25 marginal seats knocking on the doors of thousands of voters in the months leading up to the polls.

ALP assistant secretary Stephen Donnelly and several high ranking Labor members had witnessed the phenomenon first-hand in the US and knew it would be a game changer in Australian elections.

And after Barack Obama’s stunning success the party hired Sam Schneidman — a US campaign guru who worked in Nevada — to map out a plan for Victoria.

Both Mr Schneidman and Mr Donnelly have since taken credit for the election army and its incredible result.

But it was Mr Lenders who masterminded the dodgy 60:40 split pay arrangement that would ignite an investigation by Victoria’s watchdog.

Under the plan, newly-hired FOs would be stationed at MPs’ offices in marginal seats campaigning for three days a week paid for by the ALP.

The other two days — or 40 per cent — they were paid as electorate officers, with the tab being picked up by the Victorian taxpayer.

But they also worked as campaigners on those days.

The plan was simple, except for the fact the ALP staff being paid by the Victorian parliament to campaign is against the rules.

Mr Lenders denied rorting the taxpayer was his original intention, claiming the plan had “morphed”.

Mr Lenders was involved in the FOs’ training course.

However, investigators would find Mr Lenders twice approached Secretary, Department of Parliamentary Services Peter Lochert and was advised against hiring ALP staff as casual office workers.

Despite multiple warnings he ploughed on with the scheme.

The campaign committee signed off on the strategy and by December 2013 job ads for the positions went out.

New recruits needed a “sense of humour” and a “Labor story” for the full-time party position accompanied by a $63,000 pay packet, according to the ALP bulletins.

Applications poured in, prospective troops were vetted and by March Labor had assembled rookies.

The group gathered wide-eyed in an ordinary Williams St office at the beginning of the month, for a five-day intensive election training course.

In early sessions, led by Mr Lenders and head trainer Nicola Castleman, the group was tested through trust games.

In other sessions they were drilled on their Labor scripts and taught how to create phone databases for the ALP.

On day three they practised their new skills on the public.

Everything during the training course was centred around the campaign, so it surprised the group when the problematic pay arrangement was first flagged.

In the office he told the group despite being hired full-time, they would only be paid by the ALP three days a week and paid as electorate officers by the Victorian parliament for the rest.

Mr Lenders would later claim he clearly explained they were to act as normal electorate staff when being paid by parliament.

A claim strongly denied by the recruits.

“It was practically the first order of business” one FO said.

“They made it clear that this was how we were being paid and don’t say anything about it …. John Lenders said he didn’t want people sniffing around.”

“We were told ‘shut your mouth’ about the way we were being paid — if that is not a clear sign that it is dodgy, then I don’t know what is,” another revealed.

A third FO reported being told directly by Mr Lenders the plan was “straddling the line, but we believe it’s legal”.

The group put up little fight after that and were handed dozens of pre-filled time sheets for electorate office staff positions.

They signed enough forms to last the election campaign, which was then collected by Mr Mintern.

These seemingly banal documents were the final piece in the Labor scam, which would allow the campaigners to be paid under the false pretence they were working for the Victorian public not the ALP.

The sheets were later delivered to MPs to approve before they were submitted to parliament.

On their last day of training, Deputy Leader James Merlino handed out certificates and red shirts and by the next week the FOs were assigned to a seat and told to get recruiting.

But from the beginning many politicians appeared uneasy about the strange staff stationed in their office.

During the campaign one MP asked an FO to keep a low profile and not wear the red campaign shirt around the office.

Most politicians ignored the fake member of staff altogether, either engaging in occasional polite small talk or never approaching them at all.

For eight months the team recruited and co-ordinated the red army unencumbered.

And on election night when Labor declared a win the new premier credited the network as “central to this victory”.

Daniel Andrews credited the network as “central to this victory” on election night. Picture: Alex Coppel.

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Fast Forward to September 2015 and the Andrews Government had settled in, but the stink around the FOs was spreading.

One campaigner had broken ranks and revealed concerns Labor’s campaign was partly funded by taxpayers.

Several MPs and a senior party figure had also backed the claims.

Within hours of the story breaking, a text message was sent to the former campaigners telling them to stay quiet and be alert to anyone sniffing around.

Twitter and Facebook accounts were quickly locked down and photos removed.

In a bid to ward off the looming storm, Mr Andrews told media “there are rules, of course, and they need to be followed and they have been followed”.

And to further prove his confidence in the arrangement, he later told parliament he was responsible for the party and all action under his leadership.

But it did little to allay the concerns remaining over the scheme’s integrity.

Especially when a parliament document began circulating revealing the practice of “cashing in” the electorate budget would not pass scrutiny from the Auditor General, let alone pass the “pub test”.

It was the final straw for Greens Leader Greg Barber who put forward a motion for the Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass to probe the allegations which passed the Legislative Council.

The matter was referred to the watchdog to investigate, however being such a grey area

Ms Glass applied for the Supreme Court to rule if it was within her jurisdiction.

Publicly, Mr Andrews said she was within her rights to seek guidance on the issue.

Ombudsman Deborah Glass. Picture: Derrick den Hollander

However, behind the scenes the wheels were spinning as the government prepared to fight against her case.

Concerned the matter would be dumped, Upper House president Bruce Atkinson instructed lawyers to support the Ombudsman’s application on behalf of the Legislative Council setting the scene for months of legal battles.

Labor’s initial bid to shutdown the investigation failed and again was dismissed on appeal.

The Andrews Government then attempted to take the fight to the High Court which ultimately failed.

The disputes would end up costing taxpayers $420,000 for the external legal bills.

It’s rumoured the internal cost for the government’s case topped more than $1 million.

Ahead of Ms Glass’ damning report into the ALP election rort this week, Mr Lenders resigned as chair of the ­government-run rail company, VicTrack.

And although his letter states family reasons it is widely believed he was pressured to stand down to ease the impact.

The revelation of his sudden decision came two days before he would be exposed as the architect of Labor’s rorts-for-votes scheme.

Despite Mr Lenders taking most of the blame, other Labor politicians also took a walloping with Ms Glass detailing how more than 20 public officials signed off time sheets for staff not doing the job they were paid to do.

Even with the rorted cash being repaid, it is unlikely that will be the end of it.

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