Thursday, 1 September 2022

Government integrity

Ms STALEY (Ripon) (17:04): (6528) My adjournment is for the Premier. The action I seek is that the Premier responds to the 48 questions about integrity I asked in the media on 10 August. One of those questions was: what factional deals did the Premier agree to in appointing the Minister for Planning, given her brother John-Paul Blandthorn is the director of major Labor-linked lobbying firm Hawker Britton? John-Paul Blandthorn, the planning minister’s brother, sent me a lawyer’s letter—a pathetic, weak lawyer’s letter based on nothing. It is just a media stunt. The letter has been written for the media rather than to begin proceedings against me. I am amused that John-Paul Blandthorn is complaining about being identified as a factional operative of the Labor Party when his law firm, Holding Redlich, are the Labor Party’s lawyers. Last time I got a letter from Holding Redlich it was to tell me they were taking me to the Court of Disputed Returns over my election to the seat of Ripon in 2018.

During the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption, John-Paul Blandthorn admitted he was corrupt, claiming there were annual payments of $25 000 by a cleaning company to the AWU in return for below-award wages for already low-paid workers. John-Paul Blandthorn alleged Cesar Melhem of the other place offered to pay his legal fees using a fund in the Victorian state Attorney-General’s office. John-Paul Blandthorn moved on from being a corrupt union official to the Premier’s private office as an adviser. Continuing the exploits of John-Paul Blandthorn and his political activities, in 2018 he was referred to the police for making death threats against an independent candidate and the candidate’s wife in the seat where John-Paul Blandthorn’s sister was the Labor candidate.

John-Paul Blandthorn has been a factional Labor operative for the right faction for decades, just as his sister is also a member of the right and holds her seat in Parliament and her place in the cabinet courtesy of the support she receives from the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association. There is no denying the appointment of the current planning minister has raised numerous red flags because of John-Paul Blandthorn’s role as a lobbyist for property developers as a director of Labor-linked lobbying firm Hawker Britton, so much so that the planning minister has had to have an alternative minister appointed to deal with all the planning matters where she is conflicted because of John-Paul Blandthorn.

In summary, John-Paul Blandthorn is a former corrupt union official and former staffer for the Premier, has made death threats against a candidate running against his sister and runs a Labor-linked lobbying firm. If that is not the CV of a factional hack of the Labor Party, I do not know what is.