IBAC’S TENSE HISTORY WITH THE ANDREWS GOVERNMENT:
LABOR-LINKED IBAC INVESTIGATIONS/REPORTS:
* Operation Naxos – an investigation into allegations Labor MP Khalil Eideh’s workplace misused printing entitlements. Mr Eideh denied the allegations however retired from parliament in 2018
* Operation Watts – a joint investigation with the Ombudsman into branch-stacking inside the Victorian Labor occasion. The report uncovered misuse of taxpayer sources by factional powerbroker Adem Somyurek, prompting an apology from Premier Daniel Andrews and a promise of change
* Operation Clara – an investigation into former Labor MP Theo Theophanous’s dealings with a developer over a $31 billion proposal to construct an training and employment hub in East Werribee. It discovered Mr Theophanous didn’t declare he was lobbying whereas a member of the Victorian Planning Authority board
* Operation Richmond – an investigation into negotiations between the federal government and the United Firefighters Union on a brand new pay deal. Its last report is but to be launched
* Operation Daintree – an investigation into the federal government awarding grants to a Labor-linked union. Its last report is but to be launched
INTEGRITY AND OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE (IOC) INQUIRY:
* Launched into integrity companies’ dealing with of witnesses following the dying of former Casey mayor Amanda Stapledon, who was beneath investigation as a part of IBAC’s Operation Sandon probe
* Chair Harriet Shing tells employees in Could 2022 to chop the video feed when IBAC commissioner Robert Redlich was requested why Mr Andrews was examined in personal for the Operation Watts and Operation Sandon probes
* Mr Redlich expressed “grave considerations” in regards to the inquiry over leaks to the media in a supplementary submission
IOC PERFORMANCE AUDIT OF IBAC AND OTHER INTEGRITY AGENCIES:
* Callida Consulting appointed in 2021
* Audit started in February 2022 and last report tabled in October
* An e-mail from the IOC sub-committee chair, former Labor MP Dustin Halse, directed Callida to delete references within the report back to the federal government underfunding IBAC
KEY QUOTES FROM MR REDLICH’S DECEMBER LETTER:
* “IBAC’s expertise with the IOC, notably within the final twelve months, evidences an absence of equity, partisanship and leaking of knowledge to the media.”
* “IBAC first turned involved at a gathering on 14 June 2022, when Callida offered IBAC with alarming recommendation that they’d been directed by the IOC audit sub-committee to ‘discover filth on IBAC and knowledge that’s not readily publicly out there’. IBAC was suggested that the IOC is searching for proof to help a story that ‘IBAC just isn’t performing’.”
* “What’s most regarding is that it seems that the chair and majority of the IOC audit sub-committee appeared intent on casting IBAC in a unfavorable gentle for what we are able to solely assume have been political causes regarding the work undertaken by IBAC.”
* “The conclusions of the IOC mustn’t have rested on improperly acquired info. IBAC had no alternative to deal with the data and was supplied with no indication of the committee’s considering earlier than a public report was tabled. The method adopted was indefensible.”
* “There must be a provision that precludes the occasion in authorities from constituting a majority of the IOC or the Chair being a member of the occasion in authorities.”
WHAT PREMIER DANIEL ANDREWS SAID:
* “I reject that utterly. That is merely mistaken… I am not having a debate with a bloke who used to run an company, who’s apparently written a letter that I have not seen.”
