Victoria’s peak union body misused grants to bankroll political campaigns

Victoria’s peak union group used grants to bankroll political campaigning in the 2018 and 2019 elections.

Victoria’s Auditor-General has found the Victoria Trades Hall Council misused publicly funded staff.

Victoria’s peak union body has been caught misusing taxpayer-funded migrant worker grants to bankroll political campaigning during the 2018 state election and 2019 federal election.

In an echo of Labor’s $400,000 “red shirts” scandal, Victorian Trades Hall Council will refund $17,883 in rorted grants received from Premier Daniel Andrews’ own department.

Victoria’s Auditor-General found the VTHC, which was subcontracted to run the Migrant Workers Centre — established to protect exploited workers — misused publicly funded staff.

“DPC grants to the Migrant Workers Centre were misused for political campaigning activities at the 2018 state and 2019 federal elections ... centre staff were improperly directed to campaign at these elections.” the report, tabled in parliament on Wednesday, found.

“VTHC has admitted to misusing some of the DPC grant moneys it received for political campaigning activities at state and federal elections.

“It is apparent that both (Department of Premier and Cabinet) and MWC Inc’s compliance monitoring failed to detect this. VTHC asserted to us that it previously believed these activities were permitted under its subcontract with MWC Inc, but it now accepts that they were not. It plans to repay the grant funds it misused.”

Taxpayer-funded staff spent 143 hours campaigning during the state election and 176.5 hours during the federal election, the auditor-general’s report reveals. The estimated labour cost of the election activity was $17,883.15 in salaries and on-costs.

The VTHC told investigators its secretary directed staff to conduct the campaign work, and that it was not conducted on behalf of the ALP or any other political party. Eight staff work at the MWC including community organisers and digital and communications organisers.

In 2018, the Victorian ALP was forced to repay almost $400,000 after the Ombudsman found that taxpayer-funded electorate office staff — known as Red Shirts — had been misused to campaign for Mr Andrews during the 2014 election.

In a related adverse finding, the auditor-general has criticised the DPC over the employment of a consultant involved in the establishment of the Migrant Workers Centre.

In June 2017, the DPC engaged a consultant to lead the establishment of the centre. That consultant, who was not named by the report, was later appointed as the centre’s inaugural chair.

The auditor-general’s report found that the DPC could not demonstrate compliance with its procurement policy when it awarded a $16,000 consultancy to establish the centre.

“It had to obtain three written quotes for all procurements valued between $2000 and $25,000. We found no evidence that DPC sought quotes from other parties for this procurement.

“DPC also advised us that it ‘has not been able to locate any records indicating that three quotes were obtained.”

The auditor-general said the DPC staff member who employed the consultant had “previously worked directly with them at another government agency”.

“This relationship represents, at the least, a perceived conflict of interest that the DPC staff member could have been influenced in their decision to engage the consultant,” the report found.

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