Can things get any more farcically rotten in Victoria? This is, after all, a state whose premier is heading into an election under the cloud of something like his fifth corruption investigation, not to mention questions over a 2013 car crash that nearly killed a teenage cyclist. Accusations of unfair dealings at the Victorian Election Commission, the VEC referring the opposition to corruption watchdogs, punch-ups and broken legs.
Just when you think Victorian politics couldn’t possibly get any more bizarre. I can hardly wait to see what the final week of the campaign brings.
First, the VEC.
The VEC has also sparked the ire of Teals who were successful on Thursday in a legal challenge to overturn the VEC’s decision to rule their how-to-vote cards as invalid.
The Liberal Party has also lodged a formal complaint with the VEC accusing Climate 200 founder Simon Holmes a Court and four Teal independent candidates and associated entities of operating as a party, in contravention of the Electoral Act.
The VEC is also throwing its own weight around.
VEC Commissioner Warwick Gately warned on Thursday that he had been left “extremely disappointed” by “instances of poor behaviour” after a series of violent incidents as the election took a nasty turn.
It comes after unionist Chip Eling was left with a broken leg on Monday after an altercation while handing out how-to-vote cards in Wodonga. Treasurer Tim Pallas was also confronted in a filmed altercation this week.
Australian Financial Review
If you’ve ever worked the booths handing out how-to-vote cards, you’ll know it’s generally pretty collegial, laid-back stuff. Not in Victoria under “Dictator Dan”, apparently.
Dan Andrews’ Victoria is, after all, the place where there are allegedly five inquiries underway at the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) — but voters aren’t allowed to know about that, and journalists may face jail if they tell anyone.
Dan Andrews could make it a crime for journalists to report on anti-corruption cases after a case involving him was publicised.
The Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission was revealed to be investigating $3.4 million in grants given to the Health Services Union by the Victorian premier and his former health minister Jill Hennessy.
IBAC took out an injunction against making a draft report on the matter public, meaning couldn’t see the light of day until after the November 26 state election.
Daily Mail
When The Age reported the secret questioning, IBAC demanded the law be changed to make it a criminal offence. Andrews hasn’t entirely ruled the idea out.
Andrews was all a-sweat, on Thursday, as journalists repeatedly grilled him over just the latest scandal in Victorian politics.
Daniel Andrews has clashed with reporters after they bombarded him with questions about allegations Victoria’s upper house voting system has a major loophole […]
The premier was grilled over the electoral system controversy, which broke out after Glenn Druery, dubbed the ‘preference whisperer’, claimed he charged $55,000 to arrange preference deals in a video leaked to the Herald Sun.
Mr Druery claimed he struck a deal with the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) before the 2018 state election to elect candidates in certain seats to benefit Labor and draw votes away from the Greens.
The Greens went on to lose four seats in that election.
MSN
More importantly, Andrews has relied repeatedly on a loyal clique of micro-party MPs in the state’s upper house to repeatedly extend Victoria’s “Covid state of emergency” and, most controversially, to pass legislation granting him dictatorial powers under a “public health” declaration.
[Druery] claims the candidates, whom he calls “the family”, agreed not to change the group voting ticket system if they were elected […]
Upper house MP Andy Meddick, from the Animal Justice Party […] said he had no way of confirming comments made by Druery in the leaked video, in which Druery claimed the CFMEU had wanted him elected.
Although he’s an ABC journalist, election nerd Antony Green is widely regarded as a straight-shooter.
Antony Green, the ABC’s chief election analyst, said group voting rorted the electoral system […]
Green said if people in Victoria voted above the line, the preferences would go “on a magical mystery tour across the ballot paper”.
The Age
Just to finish the Bingo sheet, the VEC has now referred the opposition to IBAC.
Victoria’s electoral commission has asked the state’s anti-corruption watchdog to pick up an investigation into Opposition Leader Matthew Guy and his former chief of staff, claiming it has not received “full cooperation” from relevant parties.
ABC Australia
This is Victoria, remember: where government MPs simply refused to show up for police questioning over the “Red Shirts” ripoff — and nothing was ever done about it.
Stick a fork in the state’s arse: it’s done.
