Matthew Guy calls for Premier to face IBAC probe

Victorian opposition leader Matthew Guy says the Premier should be referred to the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) over political advertising.

It comes after the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office (VAGO) found two campaigns, which ran in 2019 at a cost of more than $13 million, were illegal.

A VAGO report released earlier this week found parts of the Big Build advertising campaign, and the Our Fair Share campaign, breached laws passed in 2017 to stop public sector agencies from publishing political advertising because they “did more than state facts and data about government funding”.

Questioned about the campaigns yesterday, Daniel Andrews said “we will never apologise for standing up for our state and wouldn’t hesitate to run that campaign again”.

Matthew Guy says Mr Andrews should be referred to IBAC.

“If you or I broke the law we’d be referred off to an investigative body, namely Victoria Police. In this instance there’s the (International) Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission and that’s where they should be referred,” he told Tom Elliott.

He wants the Labor Party to repay any money found to have been improperly spent.

“If the ads are political, and the Auditor-General says they’re political, then the law has been broken and they should be repayed. It’s a very straightforward premise — if you’ve broken the law … then repay it,” he said.

While IBAC has already conducted an investigation into the campaigns, Mr Guy claims that only looked at the “broad issue”, but did not consider whether public servants were “influenced, or pressured, or forced” to run the ads.

Press PLAY below to hear what Matthew Guy wants to see happen