Premier Daniel Andrews promises to implement all 21 of the anti-corruption agencies’ recommendations. But why now? | Annika Smethurst | ANALYSIS
Back in 2016, then-special minister of state Gavin Jennings even proposed the creation of a new parliamentary integrity commissioner following revelations the Labor Party had misused electorate office budgets to pay for campaign staff.As some Labor MPs were quick to point out yesterday, that body would have had the power to scrutinise the behaviour of MPs and the goings-on in their offices, but it was deemed unnecessary.
The government should not be criticised for beefing up integrity measures, but it’s hard not to be cynical about its election-year dalliance with transparency – especially when it comes from a government that raged against rorts and backroom deals in opposition but has amassed an almost unparalleled number of scandals in its own right.Under Andrews’ watch, the speaker and deputy speaker of the Victorian parliament were forced to resign over a controversial second-residence allowance.
Four months out from the state election, Labor has now promised sweeping reforms, labelled by the Andrews government as “the most significant overhaul of parliamentary oversight in the country”. For many years, both major parties have largely ignored internal party issues, safe in the knowledge that scandals would be unlikely to cost them votes.
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