Victoria's anti-corruption watchdog has found senior members of the former Daniel Andrews government engaged in "serious and concerning" conduct in their dealings with firefighters union boss Peter Marshall. This was reported by infohub.kz.
The report by the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (Ibac) was tabled in parliament on Wednesday, some eight years after the investigation first began. While it did not find any individuals engaged in corrupt conduct, the report said senior members of the Andrews government engaged in "serious and concerning" conduct in their dealings with Marshall – the secretary of the United Firefighters Union (UFU) – when negotiating pay deals for the Country Fire Authority (CFA) and Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB), and their later amalgamation into Fire Services Victoria (FSV).
This included "actions contrary to policy, procedure and codes of conduct, deliberate attempts to conceal and mislead, and the misuse of information." Ibac also found the government made an "undisclosed deal" with Marshall, "to the exclusion of other key stakeholders," which allowed him to "exert extraordinary influence over the negotiations" for both the CFA and MFB enterprise bargaining agreements. Marshall was also granted "privileged access" to responsible ministers.
The release of the report comes after years of legal attempts by the UFU to keep it secret, including a high court challenge. The report said the investigation first began in 2018 following a tip-off that Marshall "blackmailed or otherwise compromised" Andrews "to change his position on the CFA EBA." Ibac found no evidence of blackmail and did not substantiate the allegation, which both Andrews and Marshall denied.