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As I have written many times, former Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews finally beat out Tommy Bent for the title of ‘most corrupt Victorian premier ever’. The aptly named Thomas Bent was notorious for using his political positions to boost his personal fortune, mostly by arranging for new railways and tramlines to run right past his many properties.
But if Tommy Bent was finally dethroned by Dan Andrews, Dictator Dan might already be about to be shoved aside by his own successor, Jacinta Allan.
Companies that have donated to the Victorian Labor Party over the past term of parliament have received at least $421m in state government contracts, intensifying scrutiny of the Allan government over the integrity of its procurement processes.
Of course, all this just par for the course in perhaps the most deeply-corrupt state government since Joh Bjelke-Petersen in Queensland, or Eddie Obeid’s kleptocracy in NSW. Allegations of massive corruption go right back to before Andrews even became premier, from the (ongoing) ‘Bike Boy’ scandal, the ‘Red Shirts’ scandal to ‘Slug Gate’, and continuing on to more recent exposés like the massive amounts of taxpayers’ money funneled to bikie gangs ‘working’ on the Labor governments’ ‘big build’ projects.
All the new allegations do is uncover even more of Victorian Labor’s ongoing corruption.
A cross-matching of Victorian Electoral Commission disclosures and the state’s tender portal shows a recurring pattern of suppliers who both contribute financially to Victorian Labor and secure substantial government work.
Since 2022, at least 23 companies that collectively donated $67,607 to Labor were awarded $421.38m in government contracts across infrastructure, communications, consultancy and professional services over roughly the same period.
It’s money-for-Labor-mates across the board.
Among them is Labor-aligned Creswell Advisory, a consultancy led by Julia Gillard’s former chief of staff Ben Hubbard, which donated $1850 to Victorian Labor in August 2022 before receiving a $167,200 government contract six months later to run the selection panel for chair of a water board.
The Shannon Company, headed by state Labor’s former chief fundraiser Bill Shannon and chaired by former premier Steve Bracks, received a $100,000 contract for a litter prevention campaign before making a $3647 donation during the life of that agreement.
Sayers Group, founded by former PwC Australia boss Luke Sayers, was awarded a $571,633 contract in early 2023, followed by a $4500 donation a year later. At the time, the firm counted among its partners Tom Considine, a former chief of staff to then treasurer Tim Pallas, who has since left the business.
All of it ‘legal’ enough in Victoria, but still not changing the fact that there is a consistent pattern in Victoria.
State opposition legal affairs spokesman James Newbury said the revelations showed that Victoria was “ripe for organisations to grease the government for favourable decisions after they pay up”.
“Every integrity agency has confirmed what every Victorian knows – that this state is rotten,” he said. “But it’s more alarming when we now know Labor has accepted tens of thousands in donations from companies that then receive government contracts.”
It’s so obvious that even the Greens are calling it out.
Victorian Greens integrity spokesperson Tim Read said voters should have confidence that public money was being spent based on best value for the community, not whoever donates to the Labor Party.
Greens and integrity are rarely heard in the same sentence, outside of punchlines. Yet, even they can see it.
While the evidence of yet more corruption in Victoria is hardly surprising, what is surprising is just how cheaply Labor governments can be bought.
Among the biggest beneficiaries was Hutchinson Builders, which was awarded a $124.8m contract in 2022 and then made a $4320 donation to Victorian Labor a few months later. Construction giant Winslow Infrastructure was awarded an $91.4m contract in February last year for road and civil works, and has since made a $1655 donation during the life of the contract. Symal Infrastructure secured a five-year contract worth more than $113m, and made a $3459 donation in the same month as the contract commenced.
That is an astonishingly generous return on investment.
But then, Labor governments are notoriously generous with other people’s money.
