Allan government slammed over not handing in key Commonwealth Games documents to help with upper house inquiry
A second interim report into the abandoned bid for the global sporting event claims the Victorian government may be in contempt of parliament.
Victorian Labor has been accused of flouting parliamentary rules over its gatekeeping of hundreds of documents relating to the state’s bid to host the dumped 2026 Commonwealth Games.
A second interim report tabled by the upper house select committee tasked with probing the axed sporting event found that the Allan government had failed to comply with the processes of claiming executive privilege under legislative council standing orders and could be in contempt of parliament.
After the legislative council passed a motion in May requiring the production of documents, state Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes responded that the government had identified 353 relevant documents.
However, among the hundreds of documents, the government claimed executive privilege over 350 and handed over just three in part.
The report, made public on Tuesday afternoon, said that documents subject to claims of executive privilege must be provided to the legislative council clerk for inspection by the mover of the motion.
“The mover of the motion may dispute any claims of executive privilege, which will then be resolved through the appointment of an independent legal arbiter to evaluate and report on the validity of the claims,” the report stated.
“However, the government has not provided any of the documents required under the Legislative Council’s order of 1 May 2024 and as a result the independent review process cannot be initiated.
“In the committee’s view, the government’s own self-assessment of executive privilege without independent review is not only a contravention of the Standing Orders but a direct impediment on the Committee’s ability to conduct a thorough and transparent inquiry.”
According to the report, successive governments have never provided documents subject to claims of executive privilege to the clerk, meaning that the independent legal arbiter process “has never been used”.
“The committee also notes that failure to properly comply with orders of parliament or its committees to provide documents may be considered a contempt.”
Liberal MP and committee member David Davis slammed the government as “arrogant” and “out of touch” for failing to produce the documents to help the inquiry with its work.
“They are thumbing their nose at the parliament. The call for documents on the Commonwealth Games is very legitimate, given that more than $650m of taxpayers money has been squandered,” Mr Davis told The Australian.
“There’s a deadlock mechanism in the standing order that requires the government to provide those documents confidentially and for potential arbitration by an independent arbiter, but the government has simply refused to provide the documents at all.
“Taxpayers have a right to know how the government wasted their money and we have a responsibility to ensure this kind of incompetence never happens again.”
State Opposition Tourism, Sports and Events spokesman Sam Groth said the government is attempting to “hide its incompetence from Victorians”.
“Labor cannot manage money, cannot manage events and Victorians are paying the price,” Mr Groth said.
The committee will hand down their final report by April next year.
The state’s auditor-general Andrew Greaves found the government’s decision to cancel the games, signed up to and dumped by former premier Daniel Andrews, cost taxpayers $589m “with no discernible benefit”.
A Victorian government spokeswoman said: “When the Commonwealth Games needed a host city to step in at the last minute, we were willing to help - but not at any price, and not without a big lasting benefit for regional Victoria”.
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