WEBVTT - The secret deal between fireys and politicians 0:00:04.840 --> 0:00:08.040 From the Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Christinamiot. 0:00:08.119 --> 0:00:15.520 It's Thursday August six, twenty twenty six. Federal Education Minister 0:00:15.640 --> 0:00:18.880 Jason Clair has thrown his support behind pen and paper 0:00:18.960 --> 0:00:23.600 learning in Australian schools. He says Australia's falling behind due 0:00:23.640 --> 0:00:26.840 to a drift away from old school teaching methods. That 0:00:26.960 --> 0:00:29.960 story's live right now at the Australian dot com dot au. 0:00:31.920 --> 0:00:36.360 It's the bombshell report sending shockwaves through Victorian politics after 0:00:36.400 --> 0:00:40.919 an eight year investigation, findings by Operation Richmond into dealings 0:00:40.920 --> 0:00:44.559 between the Andrews government and the United Firefighters Union are 0:00:44.600 --> 0:00:47.680 out in the open, and though no findings of corruption 0:00:47.840 --> 0:00:51.400 have been made, it's creating a massive headache for Victoria's 0:00:51.560 --> 0:00:55.880 new premier, who's preparing to hit the campaign trail. Victorian 0:00:56.000 --> 0:00:58.600 editor Damon Johnston is here in just a moment. 0:01:05.800 --> 0:01:09.000 This agreement was negotiated with Congennings in a back room. 0:01:09.520 --> 0:01:11.960 It was endorsed by Andrew's cabinet. 0:01:15.600 --> 0:01:19.200 This is what Peter Marshall told a Victorian ministerial advisor 0:01:19.240 --> 0:01:22.800 in a bugged phone call in twenty nineteen. It's been 0:01:22.840 --> 0:01:24.119 re enacted by a voice. 0:01:24.120 --> 0:01:24.440 Actor. 0:01:25.160 --> 0:01:29.160 Marshall is the boss of Victoria's United Firefighters Union and 0:01:29.280 --> 0:01:32.280 the agreement he was referring to was made in twenty 0:01:32.400 --> 0:01:36.240 sixteen between the union and the state labor government, led 0:01:36.280 --> 0:01:39.919 at the time by Dan Andrews, regarding pay and conditions 0:01:39.920 --> 0:01:43.640 for its thousands of Victorian members. The call had been 0:01:43.680 --> 0:01:46.960 bugged by members of an investigative team for Victoria's anti 0:01:47.000 --> 0:01:52.120 corruption watchdog, the Independent Broad Based Anti Corruption Commission or IBACK, 0:01:52.520 --> 0:01:55.360 who were acting on a complaint that something fishy was 0:01:55.440 --> 0:01:58.720 going on in the negotiations between the Andrews government and 0:01:58.800 --> 0:02:07.760 the uf US leadership. Damon Johnston is The Australian's Victorian editor, 0:02:07.880 --> 0:02:11.920 and Damon, we're talking today about osaga that's dragged on, 0:02:12.000 --> 0:02:14.640 as you wrote for The Australian, for longer than World 0:02:14.680 --> 0:02:17.760 War II. Take me back to the moment in twenty 0:02:17.800 --> 0:02:21.480 eighteen when a complaint from a senior labor minister in 0:02:21.560 --> 0:02:26.720 Victoria kicked off the investigation that's now known as Operation Richmond. 0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:29.120 That's right. It has dragged on for longer than World 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:32.640 War II, which is extraordinary. The matter is under investigation 0:02:33.240 --> 0:02:37.120 in fact relate to April May June of twenty sixteen, 0:02:37.360 --> 0:02:40.160 so that's more than ten years ago. But it took 0:02:40.200 --> 0:02:43.280 another two years for a very courageous labor insider who 0:02:43.280 --> 0:02:46.440 we can't identify for legal reasons, to blow the whistle 0:02:46.480 --> 0:02:49.280 on Dan Andrews and Peter Marshall, and that happened in 0:02:49.360 --> 0:02:53.240 late twenty eighteen. By twenty nineteen, IBAQ was ready to 0:02:53.360 --> 0:02:55.519 raid and it did. It raided the U a few 0:02:55.560 --> 0:02:59.320 headquarters and a range of private homes. And that said 0:02:59.360 --> 0:03:03.120 in train at the time when that became public, I 0:03:03.280 --> 0:03:05.200 thought this was going to be a very public and 0:03:05.320 --> 0:03:09.080 very quick anti corruption investigation. In fact, it was the 0:03:09.120 --> 0:03:12.440 exact opposite. It was very secret and very long. We 0:03:12.560 --> 0:03:16.040 finally got a look at the special report into Operation Richmond, 0:03:17.000 --> 0:03:20.000 and whilst on one level it didn't find corrupt conduct, 0:03:21.040 --> 0:03:24.760 it did make some scathing comments about the culture and 0:03:24.800 --> 0:03:28.200 the actions of the former premier, Dan Andrews and some 0:03:28.280 --> 0:03:31.880 of his ministers and Peter Marshall, the head of the UFU. 0:03:32.360 --> 0:03:37.240 Now this all goes back to twenty sixteen and the 0:03:37.720 --> 0:03:42.160 hot political crisis that was engulfing the then Andrews government, 0:03:42.200 --> 0:03:45.560 and that was over a paying conditions deal with the 0:03:45.680 --> 0:03:50.880 United Firefighters Union. The then emergency Services Minister Jane Garrett 0:03:50.880 --> 0:03:53.640 refused to sign up to what the union wanted, so 0:03:53.720 --> 0:03:56.880 the union went behind her back. Dan agreed to hold 0:03:57.000 --> 0:03:59.920 side talks and sent his people to talk to the union, 0:04:00.320 --> 0:04:03.600 cut Garrett out of the action, and the rest is history. 0:04:03.640 --> 0:04:08.320 Garrett then resigned in protest. Dan forced the deal through 0:04:08.880 --> 0:04:11.800 no doubt cost the tax payers hundreds of millions of dollars. 0:04:12.440 --> 0:04:17.080 It destroyed in many ways the independence of the Volunteer 0:04:17.160 --> 0:04:22.719 Country Fire Authority and resulted in this report eight years later. 0:04:23.640 --> 0:04:26.880 Yeah, Operation Richmond has been shrouded in secrecy for the 0:04:26.880 --> 0:04:29.800 better part of a decade. As you said, what has 0:04:29.880 --> 0:04:34.040 been the crux of its findings against people like Dan Andrews, 0:04:34.200 --> 0:04:37.679 Peter Marshall and the high ranking elected officials involved. 0:04:37.720 --> 0:04:42.360 Here it's important to note that ibac's report did not 0:04:42.640 --> 0:04:46.320 make any findings of corruption by any of the key players. 0:04:46.839 --> 0:04:49.159 One of the reasons it did this, though, is worth noting. 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:52.600 IBAC does talk in this report about the fact that 0:04:52.720 --> 0:04:57.160 under its legislation, corrupt conduct is defined as a crime, 0:04:57.839 --> 0:05:02.000 so it has to constitute potential crime for IBAC to 0:05:02.040 --> 0:05:04.880 say this is corrupt conduct. It's a very high bar 0:05:05.080 --> 0:05:08.680 to cross. A lot of the other integrity agencies around 0:05:08.720 --> 0:05:12.880 the country don't have that high bar. Corrupt conduct doesn't 0:05:12.920 --> 0:05:15.880 have to constitute a crime, so we have to acknowledge that. 0:05:16.160 --> 0:05:19.599 But it was scathing in many of its findings. In short, 0:05:19.800 --> 0:05:23.520 it found that senior members of the Andrews government, ministers, 0:05:23.640 --> 0:05:29.440 public servants had engaged in serious and concerning conduct. IBAC 0:05:29.560 --> 0:05:32.960 found that senior members of the government acted contrary to 0:05:33.080 --> 0:05:37.719 establish policies, procedures, codes of conduct and conventions, was including 0:05:37.760 --> 0:05:40.600 the former premier, and that Peter Marshall, the head of 0:05:40.600 --> 0:05:45.040 the UFU, was afforded privileged access to the ministers, and 0:05:45.080 --> 0:05:49.400 that ultimately this enabled him to cut a better deal. 0:05:49.720 --> 0:05:52.080 And this is a taxpayer funded deal, So we're talking 0:05:52.080 --> 0:05:55.000 about hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds here. 0:05:55.440 --> 0:06:02.440 So this is a genuine political scandal. I think Operation 0:06:02.640 --> 0:06:07.520 Richmond is important for another reason. It actually doubles as 0:06:07.600 --> 0:06:13.080 a historic record of exactly how Dan Andrews stuffed the state. 0:06:13.800 --> 0:06:19.720 So the very failings across integrity and process, the culture, 0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:23.599 those failings that they talk about in the context of 0:06:23.640 --> 0:06:26.440 the dealings with the United Firefighters Union and are exactly 0:06:26.480 --> 0:06:29.560 the same failings that have led Victoria to be on 0:06:29.600 --> 0:06:32.000 the brink of the two hundred billion dollar debt, a 0:06:32.080 --> 0:06:36.880 corrupted big build program that has allowed the CFMAU to 0:06:36.960 --> 0:06:38.839 run rife. 0:06:38.960 --> 0:06:41.680 The government's gone on the attack over the allegations that 0:06:41.839 --> 0:06:45.479 fifteen billion dollars of taxpayer money found its way into 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:48.440 the hands of criminals via government building sites. 0:06:49.400 --> 0:06:52.800 This is what happens when you have no process, you 0:06:53.279 --> 0:06:59.080 are willing to do anything to deliver your outcome. And 0:06:59.880 --> 0:07:03.400 I think the real value in the Operation Richmond report 0:07:03.600 --> 0:07:08.520 isn't so much the findings relating to the UFU, basically 0:07:08.560 --> 0:07:11.400 what it says about how Dan Andrews does politics and 0:07:11.440 --> 0:07:15.440 the consequences of his style of crash or crash through politics. 0:07:15.880 --> 0:07:18.560 Yeah. Dan Andrews said in a statement released on Wednesday 0:07:18.600 --> 0:07:23.920 afternoon that the allegations against him are baseless, and he 0:07:24.400 --> 0:07:27.240 reiterated that no findings of corruption had been made against 0:07:27.320 --> 0:07:31.560 him or anybody else. Operation Richmond made a number of 0:07:31.560 --> 0:07:36.840 recommendations in the final report, including that integrity and accountability 0:07:36.880 --> 0:07:41.120 standards should be implemented for ministers. Did we really need 0:07:41.160 --> 0:07:45.880 a multimillion dollar, eight year investigation to know that our 0:07:46.000 --> 0:07:48.600 elected representatives should be acting with integrity? 0:07:49.760 --> 0:07:53.680 It's laughable, isn't it? But this was Dan's way of operating. 0:07:54.080 --> 0:07:56.480 He cut corners and you can see from the evidence 0:07:56.920 --> 0:07:59.760 in this report he went behind his own minister's back. 0:08:00.120 --> 0:08:03.920 That's hardly operating with integrity. But you wouldn't think a 0:08:03.960 --> 0:08:07.640 black and white clause had to be written into a 0:08:07.680 --> 0:08:13.240 ministerial job description to operate with integrity. But let's see 0:08:13.240 --> 0:08:16.760 Ben Carroll has staked his premiership and the possibility of 0:08:16.840 --> 0:08:20.320 winning the next election about restoring integrity. 0:08:20.840 --> 0:08:24.440 This is a report, it was ten years in the making. 0:08:25.480 --> 0:08:27.840 I was not in the cabinet when all of these 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:36.400 matters began. This is poor behavior, it is intolerable. I 0:08:36.440 --> 0:08:42.360 will take action. I will accept the recommendations and get 0:08:42.360 --> 0:08:44.000 on with implementing it. 0:08:44.600 --> 0:08:47.319 So there's a few people there with still a lot 0:08:47.360 --> 0:08:51.800 to lose this. Former ministers who have had adverse commentary 0:08:51.800 --> 0:08:54.520 about them have got taxpayer funded jobs. They have to 0:08:54.600 --> 0:08:57.640 be under review. A senior public servant has stood a 0:08:57.720 --> 0:09:01.520 site over the commentary Iback has made about him. So 0:09:01.679 --> 0:09:06.120 while Dan's long gone and there are no corruption findings 0:09:06.160 --> 0:09:11.959 about him, this does represent a scathing assessment of politics 0:09:12.040 --> 0:09:17.200 Dan Andrews's style. Make no mistake this condemns his brand 0:09:17.240 --> 0:09:17.920 of politics. 0:09:26.040 --> 0:09:28.480 You mentioned Ben Carroll there. He's been in the top 0:09:28.600 --> 0:09:31.520 job for only just over a week. He's four months 0:09:31.600 --> 0:09:34.240 out from an election, and he's already committed to a 0:09:34.320 --> 0:09:39.080 Royal commission into Victoria's construction sector. It was suggested to 0:09:39.160 --> 0:09:41.600 him at a press conference he gave on Wednesday morning 0:09:41.720 --> 0:09:45.560 that he had arranged that press conference to maybe deflect 0:09:45.720 --> 0:09:50.160 from the findings of the Operation Richmond report. He denied that. 0:09:50.640 --> 0:09:53.760 But how much of a headache does this create for 0:09:53.880 --> 0:09:55.800 him over the next four months in the run up 0:09:55.840 --> 0:09:56.559 to the state election. 0:09:57.640 --> 0:10:00.400 This is a significant challenge for the new premier. He's 0:10:00.400 --> 0:10:05.320 got less than four months to convince Victorians that he 0:10:05.360 --> 0:10:09.760 deserves their trust to manage the state for what would 0:10:09.760 --> 0:10:12.720 be a fourth term for Labor. Now they're behind in 0:10:12.760 --> 0:10:17.520 the polls. He's staked his integrity and his political strategy 0:10:17.559 --> 0:10:22.520 on restoring integrity to Victoria. Obviously, the issues around corruption 0:10:22.640 --> 0:10:26.600 of the Big Build had significantly eroded support for Labor 0:10:26.640 --> 0:10:29.080 over the last few years. So he has staked a 0:10:29.120 --> 0:10:34.400 lot on restoring integrity. And now he's got this Iback report, 0:10:34.760 --> 0:10:37.840 he'll have to I think clear a few people out 0:10:37.880 --> 0:10:41.480 from taxpayer funded jobs who are adversely named. He has 0:10:41.520 --> 0:10:43.560 to be seen to be treating this seriously if he 0:10:43.640 --> 0:10:46.640 is going to have credibility as a labor leader who 0:10:46.679 --> 0:10:49.079 is willing to clean up the mess of his predecessors. 0:10:50.000 --> 0:10:55.040 I do not disclose cabinet discussions except to say I'm 0:10:55.080 --> 0:10:57.920 the Premier. Now I've called a Royal commission, he's the 0:10:57.920 --> 0:11:01.840 construction sector. I've made it the really clear. We will 0:11:01.880 --> 0:11:06.280 pass legislation to give Iback the powers that it has 0:11:06.320 --> 0:11:08.280 been asking for. And that is what I'm doing. 0:11:09.400 --> 0:11:12.880 We saw damon on Wednesday, a very fired up Peter 0:11:13.000 --> 0:11:16.280 Marshall in a press conference given just after the Operation 0:11:16.480 --> 0:11:20.080 Richmond report was tabled in Parliament. It was a bit 0:11:20.120 --> 0:11:23.319 of a strange scene. He made reporters and cameramen who 0:11:23.320 --> 0:11:25.360 were in attendance at that press conference watch a six 0:11:25.480 --> 0:11:28.200 or seven minute video before he would make any comments 0:11:28.480 --> 0:11:31.840 or take any questions. He then made a series of 0:11:31.880 --> 0:11:38.199 allegations that Iback had covertly monitored himself and other members 0:11:38.200 --> 0:11:40.280 of the United Firefighters Union. 0:11:40.960 --> 0:11:44.080 There aren't employers say that bully and rass. The High 0:11:44.120 --> 0:11:47.400 Court says they break the law. Who makes them accountable? 0:11:47.480 --> 0:11:49.960 There should be a review of iyback We're not saying 0:11:50.000 --> 0:11:52.439 there shouldn't be a corruption body, but what we are 0:11:52.480 --> 0:11:55.559 saying is that that corruption body should be made accountable somehow, 0:11:55.760 --> 0:11:57.160 and there is absolutely He. 0:11:57.120 --> 0:12:01.240 Also unsuccessfully applied to the Victorian Supreseport earlier this year 0:12:01.320 --> 0:12:04.560 to prevent the findings of Operation Richmond's report from being 0:12:04.679 --> 0:12:09.160 made public. He's denied any wrongdoing and again reiterated that 0:12:09.280 --> 0:12:11.640 no findings of corruption have been made against him or 0:12:11.679 --> 0:12:12.800 anybody else. 0:12:13.679 --> 0:12:16.640 Louis when looking for a finding that was simply not 0:12:16.920 --> 0:12:22.320 there eight years, around eight million dollars of public money. 0:12:22.360 --> 0:12:26.280 They're spent on a witch hunt. And why because when 0:12:26.360 --> 0:12:28.800 they find nothing, then they try to write up something 0:12:28.800 --> 0:12:30.920 that gives it substance. And that's what this report is. 0:12:30.960 --> 0:12:32.680 And that's why I'm calling a creative writing. 0:12:33.040 --> 0:12:34.960 Where does this leave Peter Marshall. 0:12:35.200 --> 0:12:40.400 After all this, Peter Marshall's defense I Suspect was aimed 0:12:40.600 --> 0:12:44.199 squarely at his rank and file members. Peter Marshall has 0:12:44.240 --> 0:12:47.360 to retain the support of the rank and file firefighters 0:12:47.360 --> 0:12:51.040 if he's going to keep his job. So that explains 0:12:51.080 --> 0:12:53.920 the video presentation I Suspect that'll be emailed out to 0:12:54.559 --> 0:12:58.640 thousands of firefighters Marshall's correct in that, like the others 0:12:58.760 --> 0:13:02.079 named in this report, there's no findings of corrupt conduct, 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:07.640 but there's chapter and verse that reveals a really unsavory 0:13:08.120 --> 0:13:11.520 way that he would do business, some of the colorful 0:13:11.679 --> 0:13:15.440 text messages, some of the allegations about his language in 0:13:15.520 --> 0:13:19.600 phone calls. He's denied using some of that language. On 0:13:19.640 --> 0:13:22.200 the other hand, Marshall will argue he was there just 0:13:22.240 --> 0:13:24.960 to get the best possible deal for his members. But 0:13:25.040 --> 0:13:28.640 the real question here is did that leave Victorian taxpayers 0:13:28.640 --> 0:13:31.120 on the hook for tens, if not hundreds of millions 0:13:31.160 --> 0:13:35.520 of dollars in additional costs? And did that strip the 0:13:35.600 --> 0:13:41.760 volunteer country Fire Authority of operational autonomy from the unionized firefighters. 0:13:42.559 --> 0:13:45.600 And the report doesn't really go into the impacts of 0:13:45.679 --> 0:13:50.120 all this wheeling and dealing, but clearly Peter Marshall was 0:13:50.160 --> 0:13:53.960 a party to a secret process with the former premier 0:13:54.040 --> 0:13:57.640 Daniel Andrews to do a deal. And today we've seeing 0:13:57.720 --> 0:14:01.840 chapter in verse exactly the amount of secrecy and side 0:14:01.840 --> 0:14:03.000 dealings that went into that. 0:14:04.200 --> 0:14:06.040 Well, damon, it sounds like it's going to be an 0:14:06.080 --> 0:14:08.640 interesting four months in the run up to the state election. 0:14:08.720 --> 0:14:10.800 And no doubt this is not the last that we've 0:14:10.840 --> 0:14:13.280 heard of Operation Richmond in that context. 0:14:13.559 --> 0:14:15.280 Thank you very much, thank you. 0:14:23.800 --> 0:14:27.320 Damon Johnston is The Australian's Victorian editor. You can read 0:14:27.320 --> 0:14:29.880 his analysis of Operation Richmond and what it means for 0:14:29.920 --> 0:14:32.880 the state's leadership right now at the Australian dot com 0:14:32.920 --> 0:14:33.440 dot au