Victoria’s anti-corruption watchdog has found Andrews government ministers, MPs and public servants engaged in “serious and concerning conduct” during a bitter pay dispute with the state’s firefighters union.
But the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) has stopped short of making any findings of corrupt conduct, instead warning such behaviour raised the risk of corruption.
IBAC found that Daniel Andrews and senior members of his government breached established policies, procedures, codes of conduct and conventions in negotiating a deal with United Firefighters Union (UFU) secretary Peter Marshall in 2016. This was done without the knowledge and involvement of the responsible minister, agencies and departments.
“By doing so, the government placed itself in a position where Mr Marshall was able to exert extraordinary influence over the negotiations,” the report read.
Mr Marshall was also given privileged access to senior government figures.
The government’s secret negotiations with Mr Marshall meant that “no one was in a position to properly hold the government to account”, IBAC said.
Daniel Andrews was Victorian premier at the time of the enterprise bargaining negotiations. (ABC News: Danielle Bonica)
Mr Andrews released a statement after IBAC’s report was released.
“For the record and the avoidance of any doubt, there are no findings in relation to corrupt conduct made about me, any other member of the government, or the public service,” he said.
“That is a fact.”
Mr Andrews described the enterprise bargaining dispute as spiteful and dysfunctional.
He said fire chiefs were spending more time in the Fair Work Commission than running their organisations.
“That was not acceptable to me or to the government when community safety was on the line.
“The dispute needed to be resolved in the public interest, and it was.”
Peter Marshall says the investigation employed “intrusive surveillance methods”. (ABC News: Leanne Wong)
The UFU secretary responded to the IBAC findings by calling for an investigation into the anti-corruption body itself.
“Eight years and what we understand to be an estimated $8 million dollars of public money, and not one finding of corrupt conduct,” Mr Marshall said.
“This was a pursuit in search of a case that never existed to begin with.”
Mr Marshall said the investigation employed “intrusive surveillance methods” which he described as “extreme”.
“IBAC’s record needs to be reviewed as to its own conduct into its treatment of its own employees, its defence of its own legislation when persistent leaks occur, and its publication of confidential phone intercepts despite there being no corrupt conduct,” he said.
Mr Marshall said he regretted nothing that he did to stand up for UFU members.
“There is nothing wrong with what we’ve done,” he said.
Premier Ben Carroll says he will accept report recommendations
Victorian premier Ben Carroll addressed the media on Wednesday as the report was being tabled and said he had not yet read it in full but accepted all of its recommendations.
He said the report highlighted “poor behaviour” that was “intolerable”, but distanced himself from the investigation.
“This was a report that was 10 years in the making, I was not in the cabinet when all of these matters began,” he said.
“I will take action, I will accept the recommendations and get on with implementing them.“
IBAC recommended the premier introduce legislation to establish a statement of values for ministers, publish a ministerial handbook with integrity guidance and policies for ministers and staff, and that the Department of Premier and Cabinet update training materials on navigating relationships with interest groups and lobbyists and on Westminster principles and conventions.
Investigation was sparked by ‘blackmail’ allegation
The IBAC investigation examined allegations of corruption during the bitter industrial dispute between firefighters union, the Country Fire Authority, and the government of former premier Daniel Andrews.
The investigation began in 2018 and looked into the matter as far back as Mr Andrews’s first term in office.
The investigation was expanded to also consider allegations regarding the former Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB) pay agreement and the establishment of Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV).
The report revealed IBAC was tipped off by a complaint alleging Mr Marshall had “blackmailed or otherwise compromised” Mr Andrews.
IBAC did not substantiate that allegation.
The former premier also addressed the allegation in his statement today.
“IBAC’s Operation Richmond report finds there is no evidence whatsoever to support the false and completely outrageous claims that I had been blackmailed to force a favourable outcome for the United Firefighters Union.
“These claims were baseless when they were made almost a decade ago, and they remain baseless today.”
Mr Marshall has also denied the allegation.
But it said: “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.”
The report has found Peter Marshall was given privileged access to senior government figures during the dispute. (ABC News: Stephanie Anderson)
Mr Andrews had authorised the then-special minister of state, Gavin Jennings, to negotiate directly with the UFU on the CFA deal without the knowledge of other stakeholders, including the then-emergency services minister Jane Garrett or the rest of cabinet.
Mr Jennings and then-Department of Premier and Cabinet deputy secretary Tony Bates secretly met with the UFU over four days in rented meeting spaces and a hotel to thrash out an agreement. The government changed its position on the dispute as a result, IBAC said.
“Handshake has occurred — it’s done!” Mr Jennings texted Mr Andrews at the time.
In an intercepted phone call in March 2019, Mr Marshall relayed his account of negotiations to land the enterprise bargaining agreement.
“This agreement was negotiated with f***in’ Jennings in a back room. It was endorsed by f***in’ Andrews and cabinet,” he said in the recording.
Former government minister Gavin Jennings was mentioned in IBAC’s Operation Richmond report. (ABC News: Stephanie Anderson)
The report said Mr Andrews texted Mr Jennings on May 23, 2016, to ask how the mediation was progressing.
“Minister Jennings responded: At 11 am he was convinced you were a treacherous c*** and I was a f***ing idiot … By lunchtime he was giving me the benefit of the doubt … but probably not for much longer.”
Once the Fair Work Commission had reviewed the draft EBA, which Ms Garrett and the CFA were unhappy with, Mr Marshall texted Mr Jennings and a parliamentary secretary to say, ‘Love you guys … More important my members will … love Daniel’.
Senior public servants face IBAC criticism
Operation Richmond found the premier, Mr Jennings and Mr Bates acted “contrary to government policy, procedures, convention and their respective codes of conduct”.
IBAC said the investigation showed public servants could undermine effective and ethical public administration by failing to act as impartial advisors, demonstrated by the behaviour of Victoria’s then-most senior public servant Chris Eccles and Mr Bates.
“The evidence as to precisely what was directed or authorised and by whom was somewhat unclear,”
the report said.
“In their involvement in the undisclosed negotiations, Mr Eccles and Mr Bates went beyond implementing government policy and instead worked to facilitate the premier and minister Jennings’ political strategy to resolve the EBA dispute outside of established processes.”
IBAC found that between May 11 and September 6, 2016, Mr Marshall and Mr Bates texted each other 381 times.
“The content of several of Mr Bates’s messages was inappropriate for a senior public officer. For example, in three separate messages sent to Mr Marshall, Mr Bates referred to the CFA as ‘clowns’, and in a fourth he referred to them as ‘childish’.”
IBAC also found that Mr Bates shared sensitive information with Mr Marshall on two occasions.
The first occasion was midway through the Fair Work Commission process on May 23, 2016 when Mr Bates sent a text to Mr Marshall − before an official announcement had been made − that the premier was embarking on a cabinet reshuffle.
“On the second occasion, on 8 August 2016, Mr Bates passed on confidential live updates he was receiving from a CFA Board meeting.
“At one point during the FWC process, Mr Marshall sent a text to Mr Bates asking: Should I be sending you emails in light of [Freedom of Information] [?]”
Mr Bates is currently secretary of the education department. Mr Carroll said Mr Bates was on extended leave but that he was asking his department to consider next steps immediately.
The EBA dispute was a major political issue for the Andrews government, and one that cost Ms Garrett her spot in cabinet for resisting the deal.
IBAC found Mr Andrews excluded Ms Garrett from the process before she resigned from cabinet rather than agree to the new EBA proposal.
The report detailed text messages indicating that Mr Andrews wanted the then-treasurer, Tim Pallas, to “sit Garrett down and give her a very blunt assessment about the career paths currently in front of her”.
Jane Garrett, who died in 2022, resigned from cabinet in 2016 over the EBA negotiations. (AAP: Angus Livingston)
Ms Garrett died in 2022.
New minister James Merlino sacked the CFA board which, unaware of backroom meetings with the UFU, did not endorse the EBA.
New board members were appointed outside of proper process if they were “amenable” to following the government on the EBA.
Mr Andrews gave evidence that the relationship between Ms Garrett and Mr Marshall had completely broken down. He told IBAC he was motivated by ending the protracted negotiations for the good of fire services and concern for public safety.
Mr Marshall continued to exert pressure on the government during negotiations over an agreement for the MFB, IBAC said.
An unnamed MFB chief executive told IBAC that the agency was concerned the proposed EBA was unlawful or undermined safety obligations, but Mr Marshall resisted attempts to tweak the agreement by pointing to his deal with the government.
The investigation further found evidence that MFB board member Greg Sword shared confidential information with Mr Marshall, in breach of his professional obligations.
IBAC said the UFU secretary had separately employed an unnamed crossbench MP’s relative to shore up support for a bill giving firefighters presumptive rights to compensation when diagnosed with cancer.
Mr Marshall was then given extraordinary access to Lisa Neville, who became emergency services minister in 2018, which IBAC said created opportunities for corruption.
IBAC found he sought to influence Ms Neville but did not make a finding of whether he successfully did so.
Operation Richmond was launched in 2018 and was wrapped up in 2022, but the release of the report was delayed for years by court challenges brought by the United Firefighters Union.
Commissioner Victoria Elliott told ABC Radio on Wednesday morning that Mr Marshall’s behaviour impacted some people’s wellbeing.
Jane Garrett’s family has welcomed the release of the report.
“Jane was a fierce advocate for truth and a fair go for all — particularly those who didn’t have a voice,” they said in a statement.
They said she would not endorse an agreement because she believed it was not in the interests of the Victorian people and good governance.
“Her family witnessed the enormous pressures she endured during the incredibly stressful time that she was Minister for Emergency Services,” the statement said.
“We miss her every day. We wish she were here to see these findings.”
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