Source : Perth Now news
Victoria’s anti-corruption commission has found senior members of the Daniel Andrews government committed “serious and concerning” conduct in 2016 negotiations with the powerful firefighters union.
The Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) report, published on Wednesday, examined the 2016 enterprise agreement negotiations between the Andrews government and the United Firefighters Union (UFU) and union secretary Peter Marshall.
That round of negotiations handed the UFU effective operational control of the volunteer Country Fire Authority (CFA).
The probe was named Operation Richmond and did not find explicit corrupt conduct.
“While IBAC did not find corrupt conduct (as defined in the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission Act 2011), IBAC found serious and concerning conduct by senior public officers, including ministers, members of parliament and public servants, relating to the negotiation of the CFA EBA, the MFB (Metropolitan Fire Brigade) EBA and the establishment of FRV (Fire Rescue Victoria), which increased the risk of corrupt conduct,” IBAC commissioner Victoria Elliott said in the report.
“Operation Richmond highlights how government leaders, including ministers and the Premier, can undermine established checks and balances when they fail to model high integrity standards and act as stewards of good governance.”
IBAC found that the actions of the Mr Andrews, then minister Gavin Jennings and deputy secretary of the department of premier and cabinet Tony Bates over this period “were contrary to government policy, procedures, convention and their respective codes of conduct”.
But the IBAC did not find corrupt conduct.
The report does not recommend criminal charges be pursued.
The report does reveal Mr Marshall was given special access to senior government members; access that was often not disclosed to the CFA or MFB.
The “non-transparent” access Mr Marshall had to Emergency Services Minister Lisa Neville – “regular, held in private and without official records being maintained” – meant “there was no mechanism for Minister Neville to hear differing opinions or to receive the coverage typically provided by having third parties present – usually public servants or advisors”.
Mr Marshall would call and message ministers at all hours to get updates or voice concerns about EBA negotiations, phone data and evidence from a Premier’s Private Office staffer found.
“When asked in his examination about Mr Marshall’s access to senior members of government, the Premier said that he did not think that Mr Marshall’s level of access was special or unique,” the report said.
“The Premier said that it was common for ministers to have regular contact or close working relationships with union secretaries or other stakeholders from professional associations.
“The Premier described Mr Marshall’s way of communicating with government as ‘a special approach’ and ‘in a style all of its own’ but said that he would not call it special access.”
The report quotes Mr Andrews’ evidence: “Nobody invites eight calls a day from Peter Marshall. The fact that he makes them is more a commentary on him than any relationship he has with the recipient of those phone calls,” he said.
The anti-corruption commission accepted Mr Andrews’ evidence that persistent after-hours calls and messages primarily reflected the union boss’ communication style.
“IBAC does not however accept that this is where the matter ends. The Premier’s perspective omits a key factor: the government’s response to Mr Marshall,” the report said.
“As this report details, Mr Marshall’s various attempts to obtain updates and reassurance from the government did not go unanswered or ignored. To the contrary, senior government officials and ministers were proactively communicating with Mr Marshall, on high alert to his growing impatience at the stagnated EBA negotiations, providing him with live updates that other stakeholders were not privy to, giving him ear time at all times and seeking to placate him so he would not use his union power base to the government’s detriment.”
Telling of the relationship was Mr Marshall’s tone and communication with the minister responsible for emergency services and a deputy secretary of the Department of Premier and Cabinet, the report found.
“The complicit and jocular tone of some of Mr Marshall’s communications with Minister Neville and Mr Bates are not solely a reflection of Mr Marshall’s dogged pursuit of UFU interests but indicative of a government which has allowed a stakeholder to dictate the terms of engagement,” it said.
The IBAC probe began after a 2018 complaint from a senior Labor figure. The investigation included private hearings, Mr Andrews and Mr Marshall gave secret testimony, and the union secretary and the union itself fought this year in court to have the report concealed and their names hidden with pseudonyms.
While the union boss and the union were shrouded in anonymity, their lawyer argued in court the publication of the two parties’ names would “fuel” speculation about any adverse findings in the report and their reasons for wanting to challenge its release.
The UFU is a powerful union in Victoria, and following the enterprise agreement negotiations, the Metropolitan Fire Brigade and Country Fire Authority were amalgamated into the FRV.
More to come
