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Speaker 1: Good morning, and welcome to the Daily OS. Today is Friday,

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Speaker 1: the twenty second of July, and on this grand finale

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Speaker 1: of the week, we're talking about all things corruption. There

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Speaker 1: is always a lot of corruption, but this week particularly.

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Speaker 1: We'll get into it in just a little while. But

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Speaker 1: before that, Sam, there was a bit of news yesterday.

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Speaker 2: That's right. We'll lead with childcare workers who have announced

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Speaker 2: they will strike on September seven over poor pay and

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Speaker 2: working conditions. Delegates from the United Workers Union voted on

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Speaker 2: Wednesday to stage the action, which they hope will trigger

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Speaker 2: an immediate injection in funding from the Albanese government. Marches

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Speaker 2: will be organized across the country, with demonstration also set

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Speaker 2: to take place outside parliament.

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Speaker 1: The director of the US Central Intelligence Agency, the CIA,

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Speaker 1: has dismissed speculation that Russian President Vladimir Pudin is unwell,

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Speaker 1: saying that there's no evidence to suggest that he's suffering

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Speaker 1: from poor health. While speaking at a security forum in Colorado,

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Speaker 1: William Burns joked that Pudin was quote entirely too healthy,

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Speaker 1: adding that this wasn't a formal intelligence judgment.

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Speaker 2: We'll stick with Russia now, and new sanctions against Russia

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Speaker 2: were agreed upon by diplomats from the European Union this

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Speaker 2: week in what is the seventh round of sanctions from

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Speaker 2: the EU, a ban on importing gold from Russia will

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Speaker 2: now be inserted. Russia is actually the second largest producer

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Speaker 2: of gold in the world and accounted for over fifteen

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Speaker 2: billion dollars of national revenue last year.

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Speaker 1: And the good news for your Friday, the cast of

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Speaker 1: Australian comedy show Kath and Kim have reunited this week

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Speaker 1: to film a special twentieth anniversary that is expected to

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Speaker 1: air later this week. As first reported in the Cidney

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Speaker 1: Morning Heralds, the cast is expected to be filming new

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Speaker 1: sketch materials this week, which will be included alongside a

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Speaker 1: selection of highlights and rare footage in the reunion show That's.

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Speaker 2: Nomice Different Unusual Zara. A week goes by in Australian

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Speaker 2: politics at the moment that we're not talking about corruption

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Speaker 2: within the political arena, and today we're chatting about the

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Speaker 2: findings of two Australian anti corruption commissions. Both have found

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Speaker 2: that members in their respective state parliaments acted with misconduct

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Speaker 2: or were corrupts. Doesn't paint the best picture of os

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Speaker 2: poll at the moment. Before we dive any deeper, can

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Speaker 2: we first have a chat about what these findings relate

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Speaker 2: to and who they were made by.

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Speaker 1: So the findings relate to the actions of politicians in

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Speaker 1: both the New South Wales and Victorian state parliaments, So

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Speaker 1: we're really crossing some partisan lines here. These actions were

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Speaker 1: investigated by each state's anti corruption commission. You've heard that

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Speaker 1: word a lot. In New South Wales this is called

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Speaker 1: the Independent Commission Against Corruption or eye CAAC, and in

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Speaker 1: Victoria it's called the Independent Broad Based Anti Corruption Commission

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Speaker 1: or IBACK.

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Speaker 2: So now that we know who made these findings, let's

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Speaker 2: go through the finer details of each of these cases.

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Speaker 2: Let's start with Victoria IBACK. What happened there?

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Speaker 1: So the case heard by IBACK pertains to the alleged

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Speaker 1: misuse of public funds in the Victorian Labor Party. So,

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Speaker 1: for context, Labour is currently in government in Victoria and

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Speaker 1: has been for quite a while, since twenty fourteen under

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Speaker 1: Premier Dan Andrews. The investigation focused on the actions of

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Speaker 1: one faction within the Labor Party, and a faction is

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Speaker 1: those smaller groupings that exist within a bigger party. This

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Speaker 1: faction was accused of using their staffers who were funded

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Speaker 1: by the taxpayer for improper purposes between twenty seventeen and

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty. So when we think about factions, especially in

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Speaker 1: the context of larger political parties such as Labor, there

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Speaker 1: can be a few competing ones, which often means that

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Speaker 1: rivalries can form as different factions compete on party policy

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Speaker 1: and candidate selection. So IBAK cast its eye on the

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Speaker 1: Moderate Labor faction and specifically named three MPs for misconduct,

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Speaker 1: none of whom are still in Parliament today.

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Speaker 2: And Zara, you mentioned that these members of the Moderate

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Speaker 2: Labor faction were being investigative for in proper purposes and

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Speaker 2: misuse of public funds. So our tax payer money. What

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Speaker 2: sort of activities were they actually engaging in.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a mouthful, but when you actually get into it,

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Speaker 1: it's not that complex. So Iback found that they were

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Speaker 1: using taxpayer funded staff, so staff who are meant to

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Speaker 1: help them do their jobs as members of Parliament, to

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Speaker 1: actually just basically fight internal party battles between factions. In particular,

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Speaker 1: the staff were being used to do something that we

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Speaker 1: call branch stacking, which is a practice that's against party rules.

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Speaker 1: It basically involves paying people's joining fees to become party members,

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Speaker 1: effectively signing up a bunch of non genuine or fake

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Speaker 1: members to the party to then help you win internal

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Speaker 1: votes on things like candidates or policies. It's not something

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Speaker 1: that just pertains to the Labor Party. We've heard of

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Speaker 1: it in the Liberal Party too, but it's a method

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Speaker 1: of gaining influence within the party that's against party rules.

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Speaker 1: And what's more relevant here is that it's not an

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Speaker 1: appropriate use of time for taxpayer funded staff. So there

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Speaker 1: were three MPs named as having done this, Adam Somyerak,

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Speaker 1: Marlene Cairouz and Robin Scott. Somyrek was the factional leader.

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Speaker 1: He's no longer a member of the Labor Party and

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Speaker 1: all three are actually no longer government ministers now. IBAQ

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Speaker 1: found there was a culture of branch stacking evidence across

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Speaker 1: the Victorian Labor Party, not just this faction, but it

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Speaker 1: found there was no substantial evidence of this improper use

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Speaker 1: of staffers in any other faction.

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Speaker 2: So this all happens this week. Do we know what

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Speaker 2: the fallout from these findings is going to be.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well we have a bit of an idea. IBAC

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Speaker 1: handed down twenty one recommendations to improve integrity and ethical

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Speaker 1: behavior among politicians, which the government has committed to supporting

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Speaker 1: and implementing in its entirety. This case won't be advanced

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Speaker 1: into criminal proceedings as IBAC decided that the misconduct found

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Speaker 1: in the Moderate Labor faction was not an example of

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Speaker 1: quote black corruption, which is when someone in the public

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Speaker 1: sector dishonestly exercises their power for their own private gain

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Speaker 1: and reward, like money, for example, but they categorized at

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Speaker 1: more as a gray area of bending the rules for

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Speaker 1: political advantage.

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Speaker 2: Let's move to New South Wales now, because one state

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Speaker 2: with a corruption inquiry wouldn't be enough. Can you tell

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Speaker 2: us what findings were made in Akak?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so this one is a bit different because this

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Speaker 1: one is about private gains. So on Wednesday, New South

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Speaker 1: Wales Anti Corruption Commission found John Siddoti, who left the

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Speaker 1: Liberal Party in New South Wales in twenty twenty one

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Speaker 1: ahead of this AIKAK inquiry. It found that he'd used

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Speaker 1: his position in parliament to benefit his family's property interests. Specifically,

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Speaker 1: IKAK found that Siddodi tried to improperly influence three councilors

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Speaker 1: from Canada Bay, which is a local government area an

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Speaker 1: LGA which we heard a lot last year in the

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Speaker 1: inner west of Sydney and it overlaps with Siddote's state

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Speaker 1: seat of Dremoyne. This improper influence included lobbying the council

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Speaker 1: to extend or to change benefits to suit the properties

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Speaker 1: that his family owned, and also using pressure and threats

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Speaker 1: to influence counselors who refuse to comply with him.

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Speaker 2: So we heard Daniel Andrews in Victoria get up and

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Speaker 2: embrace the findings of IBAC in response to the misconduct

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Speaker 2: by people in his own party. What did we hear

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Speaker 2: from New South Wales' Premier Dominique Perrote in reaction to

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Speaker 2: the IKAK findings.

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Speaker 1: So Soddodi is still in parliament. He is now an

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Speaker 1: independent and not a Liberal. Perrote has called on him

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Speaker 1: to resign, saying that if he chooses not to the

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Speaker 1: government will move emotion to have him suspended. But Sododi

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Speaker 1: has rejected the findings of IKAK and he told nine

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Speaker 1: News this week that he's not going anywhere and would

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Speaker 1: fight this all the way. He also suggested he swore

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Speaker 1: at Perrote when Perrote called him the other thing that

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Speaker 1: might happen here is criminal charges, so that's not something

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Speaker 1: IKAK can do itself, but AIKAK can recommend to the

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Speaker 1: DPP that they look at the case and consider where

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Speaker 1: the prosecution is appropriate. And Ikak has done that here,

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Speaker 1: so they're actually maybe more come on this one.

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Speaker 2: Politicians behaving badly a funny way to end this Friday's

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Speaker 2: episode of The dally Oz. But it's been quite a

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Speaker 2: big week of news. Thank you for writing along with us.

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Speaker 2: We'll be back on Monday morning with another week of

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Speaker 2: podcasting for you. But if you need some news over

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Speaker 2: the weekend, make sure that check in on our Instagram.

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Speaker 2: We put up a quiz on Instagram every Saturday morning

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Speaker 2: and it's getting a bit of a cult following, so

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Speaker 2: it might be worth checking out. Have a lovely weekend,

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Speaker 2: stay dry, and we'll speak to you on Monday.