Premier’s ‘nothing to see here’ line not good enough

The next Victorian election is not due until November 2026. And with the Liberal Party preoccupied with its internal problems, the people of our second most populous state can expect the Andrews government to continue business as usual, to the detriment of Victoria and the nation. In another of his verbose press conferences on Wednesday, Premier Daniel Andrews had his lines down pat. The report of the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission inquiry into the awarding of a $1.2m contract to the Labor-affiliated Health Workers Union was educational, Mr Andrews said. True. But “there are no findings against anyone”. False.

The investigation found “evidence of misconduct and improper influence” at the highest levels of his government, with the conduct of senior public servants falling short “of the required Victorian public sector standards”. The then Department of Health and Human Services failed to conduct a competitive process before giving the contract to provide training for hospital security and patient transport staff in handling aggression and occupational violence to the HWU’s newly established subsidiary, the Health Education Federation. The contract was awarded on the eve of the 2018 Victorian election.

The watchdog found public servants with the Department of Health and Human Services had been “improperly influenced” by senior advisers in the offices of the Premier and former health minister Jill Hennessy, and that further interference from an adviser to subsequent health minister Jenny Mikakos and the Premier’s office “compromised the management” of the contract. The lack of oversight of advisers by ministers – offering “the potential for plausible deniability” – raised questions about the “efficacy of the Westminster convention of individual ministerial responsibility as an accountability mechanism to parliament, and, through it, the community”, IBAC said.

IBAC Acting Commissioner Stephen Farrow said the investigation showed that the HWU was given privileged access and favourable treatment in its access to ministerial offices. “The pursuit by advisers of the perceived interests of their ministers, including the Premier, at the expense of proper process and standards is another example of the phenomenon of grey corruption that is of increasing concern to integrity bodies around Australia,” Mr Farrow wrote. “The proposal from HEF raised a conflict between the government’s interest in procuring the most suitable supplier for the training and the governing party’s interest in assisting an affiliated union. This conflict of interest was not properly managed or declared.”

The contract was awarded because of senior staff in the department believing it was the minister’s and government’s preference, and because of ongoing pressure from the health minister’s adviser and secretary of the union. The staff knew what their bosses wanted, as Rachel Baxendale reports, and they made it happen. While several public servants expressed doubts about the propriety of awarding $1.2m to the Labor-affiliated HWU without any competitive tender process, they too were sufficiently “pliable” – to use IBAC’s word – to go along with the scheme.

But the union did not have or acquire the expertise and capacity to effectively develop and deliver the required training. “With the benefit of hindsight, some key witnesses suggested HEF should not have been awarded the contract, given its poor performance,” IBAC noted.

In an insight into how the Victorian government operates, IBAC found it was “of particular concern that the Premier’s submission to the draft report suggests there is a ‘modern’ and ‘nuanced’ approach to the convention (of ministers being accountable for conduct of staff) but does not articulate what the standards now are that should be applied”. Those matters required urgent consideration by parliament “so there is clarity for ministers, parliament and the public about the standards that are now to be applied if they have changed”.

Mr Andrews, Ms Hennessy and Ms Mikakos, HWU boss Diana Asmar and senior political, public service and union staff were interviewed by the inquiry. It is convenient for the government that the key staff members referred to in the report no longer work for the government. And Ms Hennessy and Ms Mikakos have both left parliament.

That should not be the end of the matter, however. Coming after the “red shirts” scandal that involved the misuse of taxpayers’ money and staff members’ working time for party political purposes, the IBAC report is another example of the Andrews government losing the war on integrity. And coming on top of its abysmal budget record – which has forced it to go to the Albanese government with begging bowl in hand, partly because of public sector unions’ generous pay rises and increased staffing – an aura of chaos, incompetence and lack of integrity is gathering steam. The IBAC report shows beyond doubt that Labor’s culture in Victoria, dominated by public sector unions, and the open access to the highest echelons of government enjoyed by union mates are undermining good governance. It is why, as this newspaper has argued, a vigorous two-party political system needs effective oppositions to hold governments to account.