Labor MP backs vote to refer Daniel Andrews to IBAC

A Victorian Labor MP has crossed the floor to support Adem Somyurek’s motion asking IBAC to investigate Daniel Andrews’s alleged role in the red shirts rort.

Victorian Labor MP Kaushaliya Vaghela. Picture: Facebook

Victorian Labor MP Kaushaliya Vaghela has crossed the floor to support her former factional ally Adem Somyurek’s motion to refer Daniel Andrews’s alleged role in the “red shirts” rort to corruption watchdog IBAC.

The motion passed Victoria’s upper house on Wednesday, 19 votes to 17, with the support of the Coalition and nine of 12 crossbenchers. Greens leader Samantha Ratnam, Animal Justice Party MP Andy Meddick and Reason Party MP Fiona Patten sided with Labor.

Ms Vaghela’s decision to cross the floor comes after ALP powerbrokers in December dumped her as a candidate for the November state election, and after IBAC heard in November that her husband received taxpayer-funded salaries from three other MPs to do factional work.

Ahead of the vote, Mr Somyurek used a speech in favour of his motion to accused the Andrews government of destroying the public service and government agencies by stacking them with “ALP activists and mates”.

A clause in the motion asks IBAC and the Ombudsman to investigate allegations “that ALP activists are ‘stacked’ into the public service, thus compromising objectivity and professionalism and increasing the risk of corruption”.

“Going to a government department is like going to a state conference of the ALP. Looking at a list of departmental heads, or not heads, but high up, is like looking at a Labor Party branch list,” Mr Somyurek told parliament. “This is where you have corruption creeping into your system. Trust in government institutions is very important.

“If people think that the Premier or the government have got people embedded in the police force, people embedded in IBAC or the integrity bodies, well they’re not going to trust those august bodies, are they?

“We need to be able to say that the head of the government, Mr Andrews, does not have his tentacles within the police force or the integrity bodies.”

Asked if he was suggesting that organisations such as the police and IBAC had been compromised, Mr Somyurek, who was speaking under parliamentary privilege, said: “Odd things have happened, but I’m not a conspiracy theorist.”

He also repeated allegations he made in evidence to an IBAC investigation into his Labor faction’s involvement in branch stacking, accusing the Premier of being responsible for the “red shirts” scheme, which saw the ALP misappropriate almost $400,000 of taxpayers’ money to employ party political campaigners.

“We were desperate to win,” Mr Somyurek said of the party’s mindset ahead of the 2014 election. “We knew, Mr Andrews knew, he had one shot in the locker. He was desperate. He did something well beyond what he should have, he crossed the line. He designed this system. He told me personally that ‘you’ve got to take part in this process. Do you want to win or not?’ ”

Asked earlier to respond to Mr Somyurek’s claims, Mr Andrews said: “I’ve got no response to that person. I’m just not getting into a debate with him about anything, ever.”