00:01Well, we've seen that it did find that there was serious misconduct and that is very, very
00:07concerning because it goes to the fact that corruption and labour simply are one in the
00:13same in this state. Whether it's the $15 billion of money that has been siphoned off government
00:18worksites into the pockets of criminals, whether it was the red shirts or now Operation Richmond
00:23being handed down today, just demonstrates that this labour government continues to put
00:28its own interests, union interests before Victorian interests. One of the really concerning
00:33things in here today, PK, is the fact that Ben Carroll's handpicked secretary for the Department
00:39of Education is named in this report nearly 200 times and that he failed to meet the integrity
00:45test. It's now on Ben Carroll as the new Premier who has said that integrity is no longer optional,
00:51apparently it was optional when he was Deputy Premier, but it is no longer optional to ensure
00:56that Mr Bates is sacked by close of business today and there is no role for him going forward
01:02in the Victorian government.
01:03Okay, so the main action you want is the sacking of that particular individual?
01:07Well, I think it's a test for Ben Carroll now, a test of his leadership. He said that integrity
01:11is core business for his government and yet his handpicked secretary, which we knew was
01:17subject to this investigation by IBAC at the time he handpicked him for the Department of
01:21Education secretary role, is named in this report and is named for the very purpose that
01:26he failed to meet the integrity test that he had to uphold as a public servant and failed
01:32to meet the code of conduct that he signed up to when he took on that role. But the other
01:36part of this, of course, is the Labor Party's relationship with Peter Marshall and the UFU.
01:42And Ben Carroll must now boot the UFU out of the Labor Party as an affiliated union to ensure
01:47that there are no further dealings with this union movement.
01:50Okay, so you think that Labor should sever its ties with the UFU?
01:54Yes.
01:55Let's just talk about IBAC as an organisation. This has been an eight-year, which is just a
02:00staggering amount of time. It is genuinely astonishing that for eight years this has been
02:05investigated, it's been suppressed, there's been many reasons for those national viewers
02:09who don't follow the ins and outs. But IBAC itself has been toothless, unable to follow the money.
02:15I know you've promised to follow the money powers, so has this government now.
02:20Now.
02:20Now.
02:21They did vote against our legislation in the parliament just months ago.
02:23But now that is the position. But people look over the border, Jess Wilson, and they see ICAC
02:30have very transparent, open investigations. Shouldn't we have here in Victoria that kind of model?
02:36I agree. And not only have we committed to follow the money powers, but also broadening
02:40the definition for IBAC. What we've seen in Operation Richmond today has not met the threshold
02:46of criminal conduct. Now, I certainly believe that corruption should be a crime, but I also
02:51think we need to separate that and look at IBAC's powers to investigate and have findings beyond
02:56that in terms of the definition. And that's a commitment from me and my team that we will legislate
03:01to broaden the definition within 100 days of coming to parliament.
03:04In terms of public hearings. Absolutely. This is a really important part as well because
03:08to your point, Operation Richmond has been underway for eight years. It's been suppressed. It's been
03:14ready to be tabled for some time, but it's been in the courts. Just a few weeks ago in the
03:18parliament,
03:19we introduced a private members bill that would allow IBAC and force IBAC to table reports fast,
03:25so that there was no delay in them tabling reports after they are completed. Now, every Labor MP
03:31voted against that. We need to have public hearings and we need to give further opportunity for IBAC to
03:36hold public hearings so that there's greater transparency as these investigations are underway.
03:42Because what we have at the moment are these investigations that can take years.
03:45We need the reports tabled certainly, but if there are public hearings being held at the same time,
03:50it gives the Victorian people greater transparency about how those investigations are tracking in the
03:55first place. And that's certainly a commitment from us.
Comments