Operation Watts report: Andrews apologises, but Guy claims Labor not fit to govern

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has apologised and said he takes full responsibility for the conduct of Labor MPs that prompted a scathing report from two of the state’s political watchdogs.

He also vowed to adopt the 21 recommendations made by the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) and Victorian ombudsman to prevent corruption, branch stacking and unethical behaviour in the backrooms of Spring Street.

However, the state opposition says cultural failings and the misuse of taxpayer funds inside Victorian Labor makes the party unfit to govern.

Operation Watts, a joint investigation by IBAC and the ombudsman, published a report on Wednesday detailing “rampant nepotism, forging signatures and attempts to interfere with government grants to favour factionally aligned community organisations”.

“The report tabled today shows absolutely disgraceful behaviour,” Andrews said, noting there were no adverse findings of him personally.

“Behaviour that does not meet my expectations or the expectations of hard-working members of the Victorian community. As leader of the party and leader of our state, I take full responsibility for that conduct. That is what the top job is about, and I apologise for it.”

Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass.Credit: Penny Stephens

Andrews said he has told the leaders of the integrity agencies he was committed to cleaning up Victoria’s political system. He also said the government would implement all 21 recommendations and would “go further” by establishing new legislation to prohibit any political party from receiving public funds if they did not have thorough internal rules.

The premier said these new laws would make it even more difficult for individuals to breach the party’s internal rules, as dumped Victorian Labor MP Adem Somyurek did.

Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said the findings show “a Labor government mired in corruption, cover-ups and political games at the expense of Victorians”.

“[It] has exposed a political party unsuitable to hold office,” he said.

Victorian Opposition Leader Matthew Guy.Credit: Joe Armao

“Victoria needs a premier and a government totally focused on ending the health crisis and supporting communities to recover and rebuild.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was questioned about the report on Wednesday morning, but said he had not seen it at that time. He asserted Labor had cleaned itself up after reforms triggered by allegations of branch stacking against Somyurek.

The prime minister said he spoke to Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews by phone the night The Age and 60 Minutes revealed the allegations against Somyurek and his allies.

The pair agreed on the “strongest possible action” to dissolve the Victorian branch, remove members’ voting rights and make it more difficult to sign up members improperly.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.Credit: Flavio Brancaleone

“I intervened two years ago,” Albanese said, adding he had witnessed branch stacking in his career.

“I’m pleased [with] the work that [former Labor MPs] Jenny [Macklin] and Steve [Bracks] have done to clean up the branch here in Victoria.”

Albanese insisted the behaviour demonstrated in the report was no longer taking place. The dissolution of the Victorian branch also served to diminish the power of Albanese and Andrews’ enemies in the Victorian branch and boost the influence of their allies.

Following the release of the final report, which found he had led the unethical activities, Somyurek said on social media he felt “good to be liberated”.

Adem Somyurek during the Operation Watts hearings.

“I thank the useful idiots otherwise known as the integrity bodies for having the decency of not planting evidence when they could not find anything after wasting millions of dollars of taxpayer funds.”

While weak laws governing taxpayer-funded staff meant the watchdog agencies did not recommend criminal charges, Ombudsman Deborah Glass argued Somyurek’s behaviour was “egregious”.

“I would not describe this report as exoneration,” she said.

While the report was damning about widespread cultural practices within Labor, it made no adverse findings against the premier or any of the other MPs and staffers it named, with the exception of Somyurek and Kairouz.

In a press conference on Wednesday, Glass and IBAC commissioner Robert Redlich said the monitoring of ethical standards in Victoria’s parliament was weaker than in other states.

Glass said the issues investigated in Operation Watts would not typically be looked at by integrity agencies.

She called on a series of reforms to strengthen parliamentary oversight and encouraged the Privileges Committee – a powerful committee of MPs who can punish misbehaving politicians – to assess whether Somyurek should be disciplined.

“These should not be matters for the ombudsman or IBAC ... these should be matters for the parliament to be concerned with ethical standards,” she said.

IBAC commissioner Robert Redlich said the saddest feature of the investigation was listening to young people who had aspired to start a career in politics, but then “discovered that the only pathway to that objective was by engaging in this unethical factional behaviour”.

“These young people start their career with a distorted moral compass,” he said.

Labor’s Victorian president Susie Byers wrote to party members on Wednesday afternoon, saying Labor took immediate action when The Age and 60 Minutes aired the branch stacking allegations, and would “take the findings of Operation Watts extremely seriously”.

Byers conceded the party’s response had denied members their usual voting rights, saying Labor would soon launch a new membership system.

“Genuine members of the branch have been asked to sacrifice a great deal – including the ability to vote in internal Labor elections – while the branch is rebuilt,” she said.

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