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Background about Operation Watts and the IBAC hearings
The public hearings running this week are part of an inquiry called Operation Watts into allegations of corrupt conduct involving Victorian public officers, including members of parliament.
The investigation is run jointly by the Victorian Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission and the Victorian Ombudsman and its remit includes allegations of branch stacking in the Victorian Labor Party, as first revealed in an investigation by The Age and 60 Minutes last year.
Branch stacking is an organised method of accumulating internal power in a party by recruiting, and usually paying the fees for, new members.
But it’s much more pointed than just that. The real question is whether public officers, including Victorian members of parliament, are engaging in corrupt conduct by directing ministerial or electorate office staff to perform party‐political work when they should instead be doing ministerial or electorate work.
It will also look at whether public money given by the Victorian government as grants to community associations, has been redirected and misused to fund party‐political activities, or for any other improper purposes. It will ask if ministers or others involved in granting the funds have “dishonestly performed their functions” or “knowingly or recklessly breached public trust”.
The inquiry will look into whether any public officer, their families or their associates, received a personal benefit from these things, and looks at what systems and controls are in place to monitor these money flows.
The hearing is expected to go for at least four weeks. It’s overseen by IBAC Commissioner Robert Redlich, QC, and run by counsel assisting Chris Carr, SC.
Premier addresses media this morning
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews is holding press conference this morning, a live stream of which you can watch above, where reporters are sure to ask him about the allegations that Adem Somyurek levelled at him during the inquiry yesterday.
To recap, Mr Somyurek told the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission inquiry he raised concerns about the so-called red shirts affair with Mr Andrews in the lead-up to the 2014 election, and claimed Mr Andrews responded: “Do you want to win an election or not?”
Deputy Premier James Merlino was asked on ABC’s Drive program afterwards: “Are they the sorts of things you’ve heard Dan Andrews say about using taxpayer-funded money for political purposes?”
“The answer is no,” Mr Merlino responded.
Mr Somyurek also described the red shirts scandal, in which taxpayer-funded staff were directed to work on Labor’s 2014 re-election campaign, as the “gold standard rort”.
Because a subsequent Ombudsman’s investigation did not refer the matter to IBAC and no criminal charges were laid, Mr Somyurek said parliamentarians across the political divide were emboldened to continue the practice.
In reply, IBAC Commissioner Robert Redlich said: “What a terrible indictment … [given] Parliament is the first place to ensure that not only members, but staff, confine their activities to complying with and discharging their public duties.”
Premier dismissed concerns about ‘gold standard’ red shirts rort, Somyurek claims
Former Victorian minister Adem Somyurek has sought to blame other members of parliament, racism in the Labor Party and an opposing faction for the practice of ethnic branch stacking, as the state’s anti-corruption commission called the sacked powerbroker to the stand for the first time in its investigation into allegations of serious corrupt conduct.
Mr Somyurek, who left the Labor Party after being accused last year of a widespread branch stacking operation, claimed he had told Victorian Premier Dan Andrews of his concerns in 2014 that electorate office staffers were being misused for political campaigns, but that the then Opposition Leader had dismissed his concerns.
IBAC Commissioner Robert Redlich. Credit:AAP
Mr Somyurek is being investigated as part of an Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission and Victorian Ombudsman probe into what counsel assisting the commission, Chris Carr, SC, has described as the “premeditated and systematic rorting of taxpayer resources”.
A spokeswoman for Mr Andrews said it would be inappropriate to comment while the hearings were ongoing.
Read the full story here.
Welcome back
Welcome back to The Age’s live coverage of the second day of evidence from MP and former Labor Party cabinet minister Adem Somyurek.
Mr Somyurek resigned from the Labor Party after he was accused last year of a widespread branch stacking operation, a practice, though not illegal, is against party rules with members recruited into a local branch to influence pre-selection.
Former Victorian government minister Adem Somyurek will be questioned at public IBAC hearings this week. Credit:Jason South
A smiling Mr Somyurek logged on to hearing (held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic) yesterday and was asked whether branch stacking was about controlling the numbers and therefore obtaining power within the Australian Labor Party.
“I would say influence,” Mr Somyurek responded.
“I don’t like the term ‘power’.”
Over the course of yesterday’s marathon of evidence, the former Victorian minister blamed other members of parliament, racism in the Labor Party and an opposing faction for the practice.
While branch stacking, he said, was a means to cheat a way into parliament, he said for some people of ethnic backgrounds, it was “affirmative action by stealth” given “Anglo-Saxon” people who wished to enter politics had fewer barriers.
Our state politics reporter Sumeyya Ilanbey – one of the journalists who behind the investigative stories that led to the inquiry – will be covering today’s evidence again today, and you can read her piece on yesterday’s hearing here.
Evidence is expected to start at 10.30am.
Background about Operation Watts and the IBAC hearings
The public hearings running this week are part of an inquiry called Operation Watts into allegations of corrupt conduct involving Victorian public officers, including members of parliament.
The investigation is run jointly by the Victorian Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission and the Victorian Ombudsman and its remit includes allegations of branch stacking in the Victorian Labor Party, as first revealed in an investigation by The Age and 60 Minutes last year.
Branch stacking is an organised method of accumulating internal power in a party by recruiting, and usually paying the fees for, new members.
But it’s much more pointed than just that. The real question is whether public officers, including Victorian members of parliament, are engaging in corrupt conduct by directing ministerial or electorate office staff to perform party‐political work when they should instead be doing ministerial or electorate work.
It will also look at whether public money given by the Victorian government as grants to community associations, has been redirected and misused to fund party‐political activities, or for any other improper purposes. It will ask if ministers or others involved in granting the funds have “dishonestly performed their functions” or “knowingly or recklessly breached public trust”.
The inquiry will look into whether any public officer, their families or their associates, received a personal benefit from these things, and looks at what systems and controls are in place to monitor these money flows.
The hearing is expected to go for at least four weeks. It’s overseen by IBAC Commissioner Robert Redlich, QC, and run by counsel assisting Chris Carr, SC.
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