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The secret deal between fireys and politicians · The Front

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: From the Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Christinamiot.
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  Speaker 1: It's Thursday August six, twenty twenty six. Federal Education Minister
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Jason Clair has thrown his support behind pen and paper
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  Speaker 1: learning in Australian schools. He says Australia's falling behind due
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: to a drift away from old school teaching methods. That
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  Speaker 1: story's live right now at the Australian dot com dot au.
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  Speaker 1: It's the bombshell report sending shockwaves through Victorian politics after
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  Speaker 1: an eight year investigation, findings by Operation Richmond into dealings
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  Speaker 1: between the Andrews government and the United Firefighters Union are
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  Speaker 1: out in the open, and though no findings of corruption
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  Speaker 1: have been made, it's creating a massive headache for Victoria's
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  Speaker 1: new premier, who's preparing to hit the campaign trail. Victorian
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  Speaker 1: editor Damon Johnston is here in just a moment.
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  Speaker 2: This agreement was negotiated with Congennings in a back room.
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  Speaker 3: It was endorsed by Andrew's cabinet.
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  Speaker 1: This is what Peter Marshall told a Victorian ministerial advisor
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  Speaker 1: in a bugged phone call in twenty nineteen. It's been
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  Speaker 1: re enacted by a voice.
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  Speaker 3: Actor.
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  Speaker 1: Marshall is the boss of Victoria's United Firefighters Union and
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  Speaker 1: the agreement he was referring to was made in twenty
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  Speaker 1: sixteen between the union and the state labor government, led
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  Speaker 1: at the time by Dan Andrews, regarding pay and conditions
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  Speaker 1: for its thousands of Victorian members. The call had been
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  Speaker 1: bugged by members of an investigative team for Victoria's anti
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  Speaker 1: corruption watchdog, the Independent Broad Based Anti Corruption Commission or IBACK,
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  Speaker 1: who were acting on a complaint that something fishy was
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  Speaker 1: going on in the negotiations between the Andrews government and
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  Speaker 1: the uf US leadership. Damon Johnston is The Australian's Victorian editor,
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  Speaker 1: and Damon, we're talking today about osaga that's dragged on,
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  Speaker 1: as you wrote for The Australian, for longer than World
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  Speaker 1: War II. Take me back to the moment in twenty
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  Speaker 1: eighteen when a complaint from a senior labor minister in
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  Speaker 1: Victoria kicked off the investigation that's now known as Operation Richmond.
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  Speaker 3: That's right. It has dragged on for longer than World
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  Speaker 3: War II, which is extraordinary. The matter is under investigation
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  Speaker 3: in fact relate to April May June of twenty sixteen,
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  Speaker 3: so that's more than ten years ago. But it took
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  Speaker 3: another two years for a very courageous labor insider who
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  Speaker 3: we can't identify for legal reasons, to blow the whistle
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  Speaker 3: on Dan Andrews and Peter Marshall, and that happened in
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  Speaker 3: late twenty eighteen. By twenty nineteen, IBAQ was ready to
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  Speaker 3: raid and it did. It raided the U a few
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  Speaker 3: headquarters and a range of private homes. And that said
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  Speaker 3: in train at the time when that became public, I
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  Speaker 3: thought this was going to be a very public and
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  Speaker 3: very quick anti corruption investigation. In fact, it was the
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  Speaker 3: exact opposite. It was very secret and very long. We
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  Speaker 3: finally got a look at the special report into Operation Richmond,
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  Speaker 3: and whilst on one level it didn't find corrupt conduct,
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  Speaker 3: it did make some scathing comments about the culture and
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  Speaker 3: the actions of the former premier, Dan Andrews and some
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  Speaker 3: of his ministers and Peter Marshall, the head of the UFU.
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  Speaker 3: Now this all goes back to twenty sixteen and the
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  Speaker 3: hot political crisis that was engulfing the then Andrews government,
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  Speaker 3: and that was over a paying conditions deal with the
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  Speaker 3: United Firefighters Union. The then emergency Services Minister Jane Garrett
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  Speaker 3: refused to sign up to what the union wanted, so
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  Speaker 3: the union went behind her back. Dan agreed to hold
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  Speaker 3: side talks and sent his people to talk to the union,
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  Speaker 3: cut Garrett out of the action, and the rest is history.
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  Speaker 3: Garrett then resigned in protest. Dan forced the deal through
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  Speaker 3: no doubt cost the tax payers hundreds of millions of dollars.
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  Speaker 3: It destroyed in many ways the independence of the Volunteer
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  Speaker 3: Country Fire Authority and resulted in this report eight years later.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, Operation Richmond has been shrouded in secrecy for the
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  Speaker 1: better part of a decade. As you said, what has
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  Speaker 1: been the crux of its findings against people like Dan Andrews,
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  Speaker 1: Peter Marshall and the high ranking elected officials involved.
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  Speaker 3: Here it's important to note that ibac's report did not
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  Speaker 3: make any findings of corruption by any of the key players.
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  Speaker 3: One of the reasons it did this, though, is worth noting.
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  Speaker 3: IBAC does talk in this report about the fact that
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  Speaker 3: under its legislation, corrupt conduct is defined as a crime,
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  Speaker 3: so it has to constitute potential crime for IBAC to
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  Speaker 3: say this is corrupt conduct. It's a very high bar
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  Speaker 3: to cross. A lot of the other integrity agencies around
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  Speaker 3: the country don't have that high bar. Corrupt conduct doesn't
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  Speaker 3: have to constitute a crime, so we have to acknowledge that.
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  Speaker 3: But it was scathing in many of its findings. In short,
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  Speaker 3: it found that senior members of the Andrews government, ministers,
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  Speaker 3: public servants had engaged in serious and concerning conduct. IBAC
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  Speaker 3: found that senior members of the government acted contrary to
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  Speaker 3: establish policies, procedures, codes of conduct and conventions, was including
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  Speaker 3: the former premier, and that Peter Marshall, the head of
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  Speaker 3: the UFU, was afforded privileged access to the ministers, and
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  Speaker 3: that ultimately this enabled him to cut a better deal.
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  Speaker 3: And this is a taxpayer funded deal, So we're talking
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  Speaker 3: about hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds here.
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  Speaker 3: So this is a genuine political scandal. I think Operation
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  Speaker 3: Richmond is important for another reason. It actually doubles as
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  Speaker 3: a historic record of exactly how Dan Andrews stuffed the state.
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  Speaker 3: So the very failings across integrity and process, the culture,
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  Speaker 3: those failings that they talk about in the context of
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  Speaker 3: the dealings with the United Firefighters Union and are exactly
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  Speaker 3: the same failings that have led Victoria to be on
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  Speaker 3: the brink of the two hundred billion dollar debt, a
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  Speaker 3: corrupted big build program that has allowed the CFMAU to
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  Speaker 3: run rife.
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  Speaker 1: The government's gone on the attack over the allegations that
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  Speaker 1: fifteen billion dollars of taxpayer money found its way into
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  Speaker 1: the hands of criminals via government building sites.
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  Speaker 3: This is what happens when you have no process, you
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  Speaker 3: are willing to do anything to deliver your outcome. And
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  Speaker 3: I think the real value in the Operation Richmond report
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  Speaker 3: isn't so much the findings relating to the UFU, basically
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  Speaker 3: what it says about how Dan Andrews does politics and
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  Speaker 3: the consequences of his style of crash or crash through politics.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Dan Andrews said in a statement released on Wednesday
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  Speaker 1: afternoon that the allegations against him are baseless, and he
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  Speaker 1: reiterated that no findings of corruption had been made against
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  Speaker 1: him or anybody else. Operation Richmond made a number of
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  Speaker 1: recommendations in the final report, including that integrity and accountability
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  Speaker 1: standards should be implemented for ministers. Did we really need
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  Speaker 1: a multimillion dollar, eight year investigation to know that our
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  Speaker 1: elected representatives should be acting with integrity?
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  Speaker 3: It's laughable, isn't it? But this was Dan's way of operating.
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  Speaker 3: He cut corners and you can see from the evidence
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  Speaker 3: in this report he went behind his own minister's back.
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  Speaker 3: That's hardly operating with integrity. But you wouldn't think a
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  Speaker 3: black and white clause had to be written into a
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  Speaker 3: ministerial job description to operate with integrity. But let's see
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  Speaker 3: Ben Carroll has staked his premiership and the possibility of
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  Speaker 3: winning the next election about restoring integrity.
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  Speaker 2: This is a report, it was ten years in the making.
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  Speaker 2: I was not in the cabinet when all of these
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  Speaker 2: matters began. This is poor behavior, it is intolerable. I
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  Speaker 2: will take action. I will accept the recommendations and get
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  Speaker 2: on with implementing it.
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  Speaker 3: So there's a few people there with still a lot
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  Speaker 3: to lose this. Former ministers who have had adverse commentary
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  Speaker 3: about them have got taxpayer funded jobs. They have to
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  Speaker 3: be under review. A senior public servant has stood a
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  Speaker 3: site over the commentary Iback has made about him. So
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: while Dan's long gone and there are no corruption findings
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  Speaker 3: about him, this does represent a scathing assessment of politics
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  Speaker 3: Dan Andrews's style. Make no mistake this condemns his brand
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  Speaker 3: of politics.
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  Speaker 1: You mentioned Ben Carroll there. He's been in the top
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  Speaker 1: job for only just over a week. He's four months
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  Speaker 1: out from an election, and he's already committed to a
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: Royal commission into Victoria's construction sector. It was suggested to
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  Speaker 1: him at a press conference he gave on Wednesday morning
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  Speaker 1: that he had arranged that press conference to maybe deflect
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  Speaker 1: from the findings of the Operation Richmond report. He denied that.
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  Speaker 1: But how much of a headache does this create for
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  Speaker 1: him over the next four months in the run up
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  Speaker 1: to the state election.
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  Speaker 3: This is a significant challenge for the new premier. He's
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  Speaker 3: got less than four months to convince Victorians that he
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  Speaker 3: deserves their trust to manage the state for what would
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  Speaker 3: be a fourth term for Labor. Now they're behind in
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  Speaker 3: the polls. He's staked his integrity and his political strategy
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  Speaker 3: on restoring integrity to Victoria. Obviously, the issues around corruption
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  Speaker 3: of the Big Build had significantly eroded support for Labor
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  Speaker 3: over the last few years. So he has staked a
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  Speaker 3: lot on restoring integrity. And now he's got this Iback report,
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  Speaker 3: he'll have to I think clear a few people out
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  Speaker 3: from taxpayer funded jobs who are adversely named. He has
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  Speaker 3: to be seen to be treating this seriously if he
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  Speaker 3: is going to have credibility as a labor leader who
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  Speaker 3: is willing to clean up the mess of his predecessors.
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  Speaker 2: I do not disclose cabinet discussions except to say I'm
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  Speaker 2: the Premier. Now I've called a Royal commission, he's the
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  Speaker 2: construction sector. I've made it the really clear. We will
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: pass legislation to give Iback the powers that it has
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  Speaker 2: been asking for. And that is what I'm doing.
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  Speaker 1: We saw damon on Wednesday, a very fired up Peter
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  Speaker 1: Marshall in a press conference given just after the Operation
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  Speaker 1: Richmond report was tabled in Parliament. It was a bit
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  Speaker 1: of a strange scene. He made reporters and cameramen who
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: were in attendance at that press conference watch a six
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  Speaker 1: or seven minute video before he would make any comments
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  Speaker 1: or take any questions. He then made a series of
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  Speaker 1: allegations that Iback had covertly monitored himself and other members
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  Speaker 1: of the United Firefighters Union.
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  Speaker 4: There aren't employers say that bully and rass. The High
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  Speaker 4: Court says they break the law. Who makes them accountable?
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  Speaker 4: There should be a review of iyback We're not saying
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  Speaker 4: there shouldn't be a corruption body, but what we are
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  Speaker 4: saying is that that corruption body should be made accountable somehow,
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  Speaker 4: and there is absolutely He.
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  Speaker 1: Also unsuccessfully applied to the Victorian Supreseport earlier this year
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  Speaker 1: to prevent the findings of Operation Richmond's report from being
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  Speaker 1: made public. He's denied any wrongdoing and again reiterated that
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  Speaker 1: no findings of corruption have been made against him or
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  Speaker 1: anybody else.
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  Speaker 4: Louis when looking for a finding that was simply not
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  Speaker 4: there eight years, around eight million dollars of public money.
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  Speaker 4: They're spent on a witch hunt. And why because when
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  Speaker 4: they find nothing, then they try to write up something
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  Speaker 4: that gives it substance. And that's what this report is.
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  Speaker 4: And that's why I'm calling a creative writing.
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  Speaker 1: Where does this leave Peter Marshall.
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  Speaker 3: After all this, Peter Marshall's defense I Suspect was aimed
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  Speaker 3: squarely at his rank and file members. Peter Marshall has
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  Speaker 3: to retain the support of the rank and file firefighters
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  Speaker 3: if he's going to keep his job. So that explains
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  Speaker 3: the video presentation I Suspect that'll be emailed out to
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  Speaker 3: thousands of firefighters Marshall's correct in that, like the others
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  Speaker 3: named in this report, there's no findings of corrupt conduct,
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: but there's chapter and verse that reveals a really unsavory
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  Speaker 3: way that he would do business, some of the colorful
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  Speaker 3: text messages, some of the allegations about his language in
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: phone calls. He's denied using some of that language. On
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  Speaker 3: the other hand, Marshall will argue he was there just
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  Speaker 3: to get the best possible deal for his members. But
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  Speaker 3: the real question here is did that leave Victorian taxpayers
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  Speaker 3: on the hook for tens, if not hundreds of millions
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  Speaker 3: of dollars in additional costs? And did that strip the
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  Speaker 3: volunteer country Fire Authority of operational autonomy from the unionized firefighters.
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  Speaker 3: And the report doesn't really go into the impacts of
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  Speaker 3: all this wheeling and dealing, but clearly Peter Marshall was
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  Speaker 3: a party to a secret process with the former premier
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  Speaker 3: Daniel Andrews to do a deal. And today we've seeing
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  Speaker 3: chapter in verse exactly the amount of secrecy and side
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  Speaker 3: dealings that went into that.
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  Speaker 1: Well, damon, it sounds like it's going to be an
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  Speaker 1: interesting four months in the run up to the state election.
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  Speaker 1: And no doubt this is not the last that we've
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  Speaker 1: heard of Operation Richmond in that context.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you very much, thank you.
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  Speaker 1: Damon Johnston is The Australian's Victorian editor. You can read
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: his analysis of Operation Richmond and what it means for
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: the state's leadership right now at the Australian dot com
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: dot au