Adem Somyurek questions IBAC’s Daniel Andrews probe

Former Labor powerbroker Adem Somyurek has questioned the Victorian corruption watchdog’s decision to conduct interviews with Daniel Andrews behind closed doors.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

Former Labor powerbroker Adem Somyurek has questioned the Victorian corruption watchdog’s decision to conduct interviews with Daniel Andrews behind closed doors as part of its probe into corruption within the Labor Party.

The upper house crossbencher’s comments come after leaked details of an interim report by the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission confirmed the Victorian Premier had been secretly grilled as part of an investigation that found an entrenched culture within the state ALP where leaders have for decades “approved or condoned” the misuse of public resources.

The conclusions have major implications not only for the Andrews government but also for the federal opposition, given several Victorian Labor MPs continue to play key roles in factions that IBAC identified as having been involved in unethical behaviour.

Mr Somyurek has himself faced days of public hearings over his moderate Labor faction’s ­alleged involvement in “industrial scale” branch stacking.

Responding to details of IBAC’s interim report published in Nine newspapers on Thursday, Mr Somyurek tweeted: “If Dan was grilled by IBAC, why wasn’t it done publicly?”

He also accused the Premier of knowing “a lot” about his Socialist Left group’s factional operations.

“Dan knows a lot about branch stacking & SL operatives organising the SL from MPs, including ministers’ offices,” he tweeted.

“The threshold question is did IBAC investigate Dan’s faction? Don’t be fooled by today’s drop. IBAC is protecting Dan,” Mr Somyurek alleged.

IBAC’s interim report further concluded that despite the Victorian ALP being forced to repay almost $400,000 of taxpayer funds, the watchdog and the Victorian Ombudsman in 2018 found similar poor behaviour within the party “continued unabated”.

IBAC has declined to comment on the latest developments, stating: “As a matter of practice, IBAC does not comment on investi­gations before it.”

However, the organisation has in the past pointed to its more restricted capacity to conduct public examinations than many comparable integrity bodies in other Australian jurisdictions, and particularly the stipulation that it may examine a witness in public only if it is satisfied that there are exceptional circumstances.

In 2020, the Andrews government further amended the IBAC Act to restrict the capacity of the watchdog to conduct a public examination. The effect of the restrictions is that IBAC may compel a person to appear as a witness in a public examination only if IBAC considers on reasonable grounds that there are exceptional circumstances, it is in the public interest to hold a public examination, a public examination can be held without causing unreasonable damage to a person’s reputation, safety or wellbeing, and­ the conduct that is the subject of the investigation may constitute serious or systemic ­corrupt conduct.

The Australian revealed last week that despite these restrictions, IBAC recently boasted about publicity generated by live-streaming the grilling of witnesses in a separate investigation into corruption at Casey council in Melbourne’s outer southeast, which has been blamed for the ­suicide of a former mayor.

Victorian Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said while he had not been briefed on the circumstances of IBAC’s decision to question Mr Andrews secretly, it was “quizzical”.

“It’s really concerning that the Premier again refuses to answer questions on this matter,” Mr Guy said. “I’ve been asking questions about probity and this government for 7½ years, and it only gets worse.”

Mr Andrews, meanwhile, labelled questions over whether he leads a “corrupt and unethical” government “a ridiculous suggestion”, repeatedly refusing to discuss the issue despite facing more than 15 minutes of questioning.