Daniel Andrews probe of MPs’ grants

The Andrews government has ordered a review into gambling and multicultural affairs grants awarded by two former ministers.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

The Andrews government has ordered a review into gambling and multicultural affairs grants awarded by two former ministers, amid a factional blood­letting in the wake of the anti-corruption watchdog’s in­vestigation into branch-stacking by former powerbroker Adem Somyurek and his allies.

News of the government-­instigated review comes as up to 10 sitting MPs – including former ministers Luke Donnellan, Robin Scott and Marlene Kairouz – are expected to be disendorsed through a vote of Labor’s national executive.

The Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission is investigating allegations that taxpayer-funded grants were awarded to factional allies of Mr Somyurek, Ms Kairouz and Mr Scott while Ms Kairouz held the gaming portfolio and Mr Scott multicultural affairs.

On Wednesday, a spokeswoman confirmed that in Nov­ember, the Department of Justice and Community Safety had established an independent audit into the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation’s grant processes.

It is understood the investi­gation is being conducted by consulting firm KPMG, and is expected to be concluded early next year.

Multicultural Affairs Minister Ros Spence has separately asked PricewaterhouseCoopers to investigate grants awarded to the Somali Australian Council of Victoria, which are also under investigation by IBAC.

That probe is likewise expected to be completed early next year, with a government spokesman saying: “It would be in­appropriate to comment while the review is ongoing.”

Preselections for Labor seats being vacated by sitting Labor MPs are this week under way, ahead of nominations closing on Friday for seats held by those intending to recontest.

Among the seven MPs to have announced they will retire at the November 2022 election are former emergency services minister Jane Garrett; Planning and Housing Minister Richard Wynne; former attorney-general and health minister Jill Hennessy; former tourism, major events, sport and veterans minister John Eren; Yan Yean MP Danielle Green; and Ringwood MP Dustin Halse.

Lisa Neville adviser Clancy Dobbyn and LGBTIQ activist Lauren O’Dwyer were on Wednesday night vying for Mr Wynne’s inner-city seat of Richmond, while Mat Hilakari, who like Mr Dobbyn and Ms O’Dwyer is a former Labor staffer, student politician and Socialist Left faction operative, won the contest for Point Cook on Tuesday.

The newly created seat in Melbourne’s growing southwest replaces some territory covered by Ms Hennessy’s abolished seat of Altona but is more than an hour’s drive, in ideal traffic, from Mr Hilakari’s home in Carrum, in Melbourne’s outer southeast.

With Alan Griffin and Kos Samaras, Mr Hilakari was one of three Socialist Left power­brokers, all of whom are listed on the government’s register of political lobbyists, who attended a high-level meeting at the headquarters of the Transport Workers Union late in November to strike a deal to carve up electorates between rival factions.

While the deal is still being finalised ahead of Friday’s close of nominations, multiple party sources said they expected up to 10 seats held by Somyurek factional allies to be divided between the Socialist Left, the Conroy/Marles/TWU Right, and the Right faction aligned with the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association.

Sources aligned with the Right factions set to benefit from the deal downplayed threats from Somyurek allies to cause chaos by sparking by-elections in lower house seats.