Labor Rorts

[Mugwump]

^ the Olympian detachment gambit is tempting, but ultimately politics does matter. If we do not argue for civilized norms and probity in politics and society then there are plenty who will justify the opposite.

[watt price tully]

[Mugwump]

[Dave The Man]

They All Do it

[Dave The Man]

They All Do it

[stui magpie]

^

Partisan tinted?

It's not a Police matter as it relates to Parliamentary guidelines. Same as the guy getting his dog chauffeured around and the people claiming living away from home allowances. All Labor rorts.

The Ombudsman didn't say 'no case', she said it was totally inappropriate and caned them for it.

Andrews produces a receipt for $138k, who says that is the only one? They ripped off $388k and it wasn't paid back a while ago, only after the Ombudsman's ruling. $388k puts bronnie bishops chopper flights in the shade. That's a big rip off. If a single MP did that, they'd be sacked.

[Mugwump]

^

Partisan tinted?

It's not a Police matter as it relates to Parliamentary guidelines. Same as the guy getting his dog chauffeured around and the people claiming living away from home allowances. All Labor rorts.

The Ombudsman didn't say 'no case', she said it was totally inappropriate and caned them for it.

Andrews produces a receipt for $138k, who says that is the only one? They ripped off $388k and it wasn't paid back a while ago, only after the Ombudsman's ruling. $388k puts bronnie bishops chopper flights in the shade. That's a big rip off. If a single MP did that, they'd be sacked.

Yes, looks that way to me. I was grateful for WPT answering my question, but the answer seemed a bit tribal. Like the Australian cricket team, winning for your side and supporting any action to that end seems the default position, on most things nowadays. I suppose we will never reinstate the capacity to look at anything from the point of view of ordinary ethics, above politics.

[HAL]

Is this a riddle?

[Culprit]

Matthew Guys fear campaign has failed so he starts on the corruption campaign. Least he is putting his eggs in two baskets now. It will be interesting if the Greens join the LNP again in joining his crusade. Each time the Greens vote with the LNP they lose the old disenfranchised ALP voters and send them back to the ALP. Anyone that has worked in an Electoral office (I have) knows that this is the norm as it's simply a grey area. The LNP are pissed off as they appointed her (Ombudsman) and she couldn't come up with a smoking gun, instead it was a starters pistol. What Guy should do is investigate ALL MP's from ALL parties, which he won't. The Whistle blower is a journo and despite his spin all he was doing was trying to get a story. His story failed (no award here) as there is a perception that people see Politicians as corrupt so no one was really shocked, unlike the latest Cricket fiasco which has people wanting blood. I will add, I do laugh at people who say they won't vote for the ALP after this, they never have voted ALP. This will mean nothing as far as votes go at the next election. It's back page news already thanks to our glorious Cricket Captain and his Side kicks.

[stui magpie]

Police have made a number of arrests and interviewed several people caught up in Labor's so-called "red shirts" rorting of hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars in 2014.

Police say they will interview 17 people across Australia as part of their criminal investigation into the scheme.

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/vict ... 4zv0p.html

[David]

This one's gone a bit over my head, to be honest (not that the ALP cutting legal corners would surprise me). I just hope that this doesn't help Mafia Guy's election chances, because that shit would be $@&^#.

[stui magpie]

It's not going to help Labor.

What I don't get is, if Labor wanted paid organisers in the election campaign, why didn't they just pay for them themselves? Their election budget would have been considerable, going to these lengths to use public money inappropriately was stupid.

If you work in the public sector, there's an expectation that you're supposed to be duly circumspect in the use of public money. That money comes from taxpayers, it's the public purse and sticking your hand in it isn't a good look.

The insinuation is that Labor knew it was dodgy if not illegal and was an inappropriate use of public money. That is not a good look in the lead up to an election particularly as it isn't just a couple of pollies rorting allowances, but this came from the Premier.

Update, https://www.theage.com.au/politics/vict ... 4zv0p.html

A former Labor electorate officer who worked for two MPs who are now senior Andrews government ministers says he was arrested at his home at 6am on Thursday, taken to a police station and strip-searched before being interviewed.

Jake Finnigan, a self-described whistleblower about Labor's misuse of almost $400,000 of taxpayer funds in 2014, said police took him to their West Melbourne headquarters and forced him to strip naked, before interviewing him about claims of making a false document.

Now that's interesting.

Vic Crimes act says:

(1) A person must not make a false document with the intention that he or she, or another person, shall use it to induce another person to accept it as genuine, and by reason of so accepting it to do or not to do some act to that other person's, or to another person's prejudice.

Penalty: Level 5 imprisonment (10 years maximum).

Filling in a timesheet and claiming hours you didn't work is considered fraud, not forgery. These people did work the hours they claimed, so fraud is out.

The problem is that they completed the timesheet, on instructions, to claim all the hours from their ministers office when 60% of them should have been paid for by the Labor party. The "other person" who would accept it as genuine would be the payroll people. Given they were instructed how to claim the hours, if the Police go down this path, you would think it's the people who instructed them and who signed the timesheets are the ones who would be charged.

Interesting. I can't see forgery sticking, but it won't be a good look if anyone is charged.

[Culprit]

This will cost the tax payer millions of dollars in legal fees. Rob Starry who doesn't work for peanuts will go with will go with the Ombudsman's (who was appointed by the LNP) report. Ms Glass' report found that the MPs involved in the scheme had not deliberately broken parliamentary rules. To now say they have makes a mockery of the Ombudsman's call.

No doubt that we will have State LNP MP's caught up in this as well. Like the NSW ICAC which took out there own and a Premier. Same for when the ALP stated about dual citizenship. You make assumptions and we all know what happens.