Premier Daniel Andrews,then health minister Jill Hennessy (third from right) and union leader Diana Asmar (right) announcing the $2.2 million election commitment ahead of the 2018 election.Credit:
“It is highly likely that the premier was informed of the commitment proposal as formulated by his advisers and conveyed the substance of the intended commitment to Ms Asmar when he met her before making the announcement. During his examination,the premier ultimately accepted that he may have done so.
“The premier initially said in his evidence that the announcement did not involve a commitment to any particular provider. He was then played a video clip of his announcement that showed the commitment as being one in partnership with the HWU. The premier had no memory of that commitment”.
IBAC concluded that Andrews’ announcement “constituted a pre-election commitment favouring the union” and that Mikakos told investigators she believed the $1.2 million contract and the $2.2 million pledge were “interrelated” and both needed to be delivered in a timely manner.
However,the agency said it could not prove that the premier was aware of the serious probity concerns that had been raised about the training program contract.
Andrews made the election commitment for the training program seven days before the tender had been finalised,a sign that political staff believed the awarding of the contract to the union was a fait accompli.
The contract was executed just hours before the government entered into caretaker period on October 30.
The union’s training body – the Health Education Federation – only trained 83 of the planned 575 staff between October 2018 and March 2020,when the training ended because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
IBAC found the quality of the training was poor:60 per cent of hospital staff who attended the training believed the trainers were not organised or prepared,while nearly 80 per cent believed the trainers did not have in-depth knowledge of occupational violence and aggression,nor were they providing a program that was relevant to the health sector.
Hennessy with Andrews in 2018.Credit:Scott McNaughton
The commission criticised the department in the report for succumbing to pressure despite its significant concerns about the proposal,including the union’s capacity to deliver the training program – a conduct that the commission said fell short of the standards required of public servants.
“The decision by DHHS to contract with[the union] without undertaking a competitive procurement process was driven by a belief of senior staff in that department that that was the minister’s and government’s preference,and by ongoing pressure from the ministerial adviser and secretary of the union,” the report states.
“There were serious concerns about the standard of training provided by[the union] under the contract. However,intervention in 2019 and early 2020 by another adviser in the new health minister’s office,on occasion at the request of a senior adviser in the PPO,dissuaded DHHS from taking steps to terminate the contract.”
Loading
When department officials tried to cancel the contract,staff from the premier’s office intervened to keep it intact,IBAC found.
The commissioner was critical of the centralisation of power in the premier’s office and said the probe was a “further illustration of the significant deterioration in the observance of more traditional rules and conventions,which have affected the role and independence of ministers and their departments”.
It also described the scheme as another example of the “phenomenon of grey corruption that is of increasing concerns to integrity bodies”.
Soft or grey corruption,IBAC said in its report,involves bending or breaking rules in a way that unfairly favours allies of decision-makers. The watchdog said it corroded standards of public governance,and,if left unchecked,increased the risk of corrupt criminal offending.
IBAC said its finding of centralisation of power was based on the testimonies of the two former health ministers – Hennessy and Mikakos – with the latter describing the premier’s office as “having its tentacles everywhere”. The handover meeting between the two women had “principally focused on how interventionist the PPO and premier had been in the health portfolio”,Mikakos said.
Former health minister Jenny Mikakos was scathing of the centralisation of power under Andrews.Credit:Joe Armao
Hennessy told investigators she had no detailed understanding of her adviser’s role in developing the $2.2 million election commitment and that there had been a “significant expansion” of the premier’s office since she was first elected in 2010.
“Former minister Hennessy observed that the growth in the PPO reflected a ‘greater centralisation that has occurred in government … across many Westminster systems … a centralisation of decision-making and media management’,” the IBAC report states.
“In her submission on the draft report,Ms Mikakos referred to the interventions of the PPO in relation to the management of the[HWU] contract as being ‘inappropriate’.
“[She] said that the Westminster tradition of ministerial responsibility was meaningless when ministers and their staff could be directed by others in government as to how to oversee their departments.”
IBAC said the probity risks posed by unsolicited proposals were compounded in this instance because of the conflict between the government’s interest in procuring the most suitable supplier and Labor’s interest in helping an affiliated union. Asmar is a vocal figure in the Labor Party,to which her union pays $80,000 a year in affiliation fees.
Mikakos,whoresigned in late 2020 after Andrews assigned responsibility for the failure of hotel quarantine to manage the COVID-19 pandemic to her,told investigators the premier’s office would “move heaven and earth” to keep the union movement happy,citing the outcomes for unions during enterprise bargaining negotiations.
IBAC made 17 recommendations,with a focus on improving the standards and the accountability of ministerial advisers and staff in the premier’s office.
The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories,analysis and insights.Sign up here.