Victoria Police probe rorts-for-votes scheme

PREMIER Daniel Andrews says the six ministers at the centre of a fraud probe won’t stand down, after Victoria Police announced a criminal investigation into Labor’s rorts-for-votes scheme. LATEST

PREMIER Daniel Andrews says the six ministers at the centre of a fraud probe won’t stand down, after Victoria Police announced a criminal investigation into Labor’s rorts-for-votes scheme.

Mr Andrews told media on Saturday morning the ministers would continue to do their job and would fully co-operate with the Victoria Police inquiry.

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“I will not provide a running commentary,” Mr Andrews told the media conference.

“In terms of ministers, they will all continue to do what they have to do … all the different responsibilities that fall to our government and its members,’’ Mr Andrews said.

“Beyond that, I would also say that the Department of Justice has received an assurance from Victoria Police that the work of Victoria Police is well and truly at arm’s length from ministers, ministers’ officers and the department itself.’’

The political bombshell will rock the Andrews Government, just 120 days out from the state election. Picture: Nathan Edwards

Mr Andrews would not be drawn on how the probe would affect his re-election chances on November 24 except to say that voters could look at his government’s achievements.

He refuted statements from the Opposition that the government was in crisis.

“The Opposition are irrelevant to our plans and I don’t think they are in any position to be providing lectures to anybody,’’ he said.

The Herald Sun exclusively revealed yesterday, in a 1.30pm news update, that six ministers in the Andrews ­Government were clinging to their jobs after Victoria Police announced a criminal investigation into Labor’s 2014 rorts-for-votes scheme.

The decision sent shockwaves through the party, with just 120 days until the state election.

Despairing MPs fear it will derail their campaigns.

In a statement, police said they had assessed allegations of “misuse of parliamentary budget entitlements”, exposed by the Herald Sun in 2015 and laid bare in an Ombudsman’s report this year. Detectives from the fraud and extortion squad will lead the ­investigation.

One Labor MP said on Friday: “This is a bombshell. This is bad, very bad. No one was expecting the police to do this.”

In her report, Ombudsman ­Deborah Glass found that 21 MPs, including six ministers, spent almost $388,000 on casual electorate ­officers who helped run ALP ­campaigns in marginal seats.

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The six ministers are Special Minister of State Gavin Jennings, Attorney-General Martin Pakula, Youth Affairs Minister Jenny ­Mikakos, Corrections Minister Gayle Tierney, Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio and Sports Minister John Eren.

Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said those six must stand aside while police did their job.

“There has never been a situation before where a minister has been subject to a police criminal investigation and not stood aside while that investigation has taken place,” he said. “The government is in complete crisis. A fish rots from the head, and in Victoria it is rotting.”

But a government spokeswoman indicated no minister would stand aside. Some Labor MPs said the ­latest twist in the “red shirts” saga was a disaster, but it was likely that Premier Daniel Andrews and the ministers would dig in and keep doing their jobs.

“If six ministers were stood aside, it would have been unsustainable for the Premier to sit in the job,” one MP said. “You can’t have a third of your Cabinet go and not go yourself.”

Some of the Labor MPs said it wasn’t clear who would be the subject of the police probe, or how far it would go, or how sustainable it would be for ministers to cling on with it hanging over them.

One said there was whitehot anger that a complaint to police by Mr Guy had triggered the police investigation, and questioned how potential criminality could be possible.

Another said simply: “How can this still be going?”

Police declined to comment on Friday on what was being assessed, but said “a formal investigation will now be conducted by the fraud and extortion squad”.

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Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton. Picture: Stuart McEvoy/The Australian.

The state Opposition later tried to demand Mr Andrews stand ministers down during a fiery parliamentary debate.

However, the government quickly adjourned the Legislative Council.

The Legislative Council Privileges Committee is also probing the rorts-for-votes scheme, and last week heard from police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton.

Mr Ashton said last week that police had declined to open an investigation in 2016 because of advice from a QC, but were re-examining the matter based on the Ombudsman’s report and information obtained during the course of her inquiry.

He outlined potential ­offences, ­including making and using a false document, false accounting, conspiracy to cheat and defraud, and misconduct in public office.

But he also warned that if police did open an investigation, it would take months to complete.

Most MPs think this means the police probe will be continuing when the government goes into caretaker mode at the end of October, and at the November 24 election.

Mr Andrews has maintained that MPs “acted in good faith” when hiring casual electorate officers to work in other seats, because they thought it was an extension of a staff pooling program.

He also said that no MP raised concerns with him about the scheme in 2014.

Last week, Labor MP Adem Somyurek told the Privileges Committee he had “raised the matter” with Mr Andrews, but Mr Andrews said this did not contradict his statements.

The Privileges Committee also heard from the scheme’s architect, former state treasurer John Lenders, who ­denied any wrongdoing.

“I believed I was working within an acceptable framework,” Mr Lenders said last week. “You’ve got to try it on and if (parliamentary services) pay, you know it’s met their ultimate test.”

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