Wednesday, 2 August 2023

Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission

Operation Sandon: Special Report

Samantha RATNAM (Northern Metropolitan) (17:26): I rise to speak on IBAC’s special report on Operation Sandon that was tabled last Thursday 27 July. Operation Sandon was a five-year investigation that exposed widespread corruption between lobbyists and councillors at the City of Casey to influence decisions made on planning approvals that would result in lucrative profits for property developers. Operation Sandon also exposed how lobbyists showered almost $1 million on Victorian members of Parliament and state candidates and Labor and Liberal Party associated entities to obtain privileged access to ministers and even the Premier to try and influence their decision-making.

While it is important that proportionate blame for the behaviour that was uncovered by IBAC is directed at those who acted corruptly and without integrity, we must also, like IBAC does, look at the governance and integrity systems that allow this kind of behaviour to occur. Here blame is squarely pointed at the Andrews Labor government. Operation Sandon did not just expose the disturbing cosy relationships between these sleazy, venal property developers and government ministers, it once again also highlighted that this government has done nothing in almost a decade to implement the most basic integrity measures that could help to prevent corruption. Guess what, when you do nothing to prevent political corruption, political corruption is inevitable and utterly predictable.

Because the Andrews government failed to ban property developers from giving politicians donations, as recommended by the Ombudsman in 2015, property developers continue to use donations to corrupt politicians. Because Labor has the weakest lobbying laws in the nation, ex-ministers are directly appointed to public boards by their former colleagues, where they are allowed to simultaneously work as lobbyists for property developers and, in one instance, corruptly use these positions to help get their daughters elected to state government. Who would have guessed that preventing corruption involves strengthening integrity laws to prevent corruption? Not this Labor government, apparently.

So once again, we need these basic reforms. We need to make ministerial diaries public. We need to legislate codes of conduct for ministers, advisers and lobbyists, with real penalties for misconduct. We need to implement spending caps for election campaigns. We need to apply the state’s donation cap laws to local governments, and we need to broaden the jurisdiction of the anti-corruption commission. These are not radical proposals; they already apply in other jurisdictions and have done so for many years. Moreover, these are essential reforms if the most controversial recommendation of Operation Sandon, the removal of planning powers from councils, is implemented, because we know from countless IBAC reports into state government that removing planning powers from councils without strengthening the state’s integrity laws will just shift even more corruption to state government MPs and ministers than there is already.

Most of us must not lose sight that whatever planning reforms result from this report, they will not be the solution to our housing crisis on their own. Removing planning powers from councils and centralising them within the state government will do little to address the housing affordability crisis and will only funnel even more profits to developers unless this government commits to major housing reform at the same time. This government must reverse its record selling off of public housing and legislate minimum requirements for the building of public and affordable homes by property developers. The Greens want 50 per cent of new homes built, if these special powers are brought in, to be public and affordable homes. That is how we fix the housing crisis, and we must address our integrity and corruption issues that are plaguing Victoria right now.