Victorian integrity watchdogs move to crack down on misuse of public funds

Victoria’s top integrity agencies have written to the leaders of the state’s political parties seeking recommendations for legislative change to deter the misuse of public funds.

Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass.

Victoria’s top integrity agencies have written to the leaders of the state’s political parties seeking recommendations for legislative change to deter the misuse of public funds in the wake of branch-stacking allegations and Labor’s Red Shirts scandal.

In a joint statement issued on Wednesday, Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass and Independent Broad-based Anti-Corr­uption Commission chief Robert Redlich QC said the reforms they were seeking were also aimed at strengthening the frameworks for parliamentary accountability, particularly in relation to breaches of the members of parliament code of conduct.

The Ombudsman and IBAC commissioner cited evidence heard at the recent IBAC Operation Watts investigation into branch-stacking in the Victorian Labor Party, which “suggests that in Victoria some members of parliament may be misusing public resources by directing electorate officers and ministerial staff to engage in work which furthers their political objectives”.

Ms Glass said the evidence indicated that despite a package of reforms enacted by parliament in 2019 in response to her investigation into Labor’s Red Shirts rort, “existing laws and rules around the legitimate use of public resources are not robust enough to prevent their misuse”.

In July 2018, Ms Glass found 21 Labor MPs, including six ministers, had misused $388,000 of taxpayer funds to partially fund Red Shirts campaign staff during the 2014 state election.

“Members of parliament gave evidence of their belief that when legislative changes were being implemented, parliament deliberately omitted reference to the wider definition of “party specific” work to permit the use of electorate officers to engage in some party-political activities during work hours,” Ms Glass and Mr Redlich said.

“Much of the evidence heard at the public hearings spoke about how taxpayer funds were directed to ministerial and electorate office staff to perform party‐political (duties) during work hours, rather than the job they were hired to do in performing ministerial or electorate work. IBAC and the Victorian Ombudsman are also seeking clarity from members of parliament about the appointment process of staff hired for electoral or ministerial work and whether reducing the staffing allocation and electorate office budget should be considered.

“This engagement with party leaders will form one input into the recommendations that will be included in the Operation Watts report to be released next year.”