Somyurek's facade crumbles as probe scrutiny intensifies
IBAC Labor inquiry
By Sumeyya Ilanbey and Paul Sakkal
For months, Adem Somyurek had considered painting a false picture to anti-corruption commission investigators of what had really occurred in his office.
In the end, he decided to take the "liberating" course and admit to branch stacking.
Former minister Adem Somyurek appears before the Operation Watts IBAC hearing on Friday.
But even in the face of the evidence presented over his four days giving evidence before the commission this week, he still insisted he was not misappropriating taxpayer funds by requiring his staff to undertake factional activity.
Mr Somyurek was once a feared factional warlord inside the Labor Party who threatened to end the careers of staffers and parliamentarians and boasted he was more "f---ing powerful" than both the Premier, and the powerbrokers who came before him.
But under the relentless scrutiny of the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission, which has uncovered evidence of his wrongdoing, his facade has quickly crumbled.
Mr Somyurek is being investigated as part of a joint IBAC and Victorian Ombudsman probe into what counsel assisting the inquiry Chris Carr, SC, has described as the "premeditated and systematic rorting of taxpayer resources".
Mr Carr said former staffers had told IBAC in private hearings that, under the direction of Mr Somyurek, they had done a significant amount of factional work and were "visibly distressed" about what they had done.
Factional operatives had privately complained about the incessant demands of their former boss, Mr Carr said, and a 20-year-old whose only previous experience had been working part-time at a pet shop, was rewarded with a $95,000 electorate office job as a spoil of Labor's factional patronage system.
Even in the face of this evidence, Mr Somyurek denied he was a feared warlord. He preferred the term influence over power and said he was merely building a coalition of Labor's Right faction, not controlling it.
Mr Somyurek consistently insisted during the week that employing factional operatives in taxpayer-funded jobs was not a "misappropriation of funds". It was simply part of the political patronage system, he said, and was practised by all MPs.
The concern he had now, he told Commissioner Robert Redlich, was that IBAC was too constrained to look at this broader Labor practice.
Mr Somyurek, who confirmed he will not be contesting the next election, said "that means you don't know whether this is common practice or not. You're restrained from looking at other parties and other parts of the Labor Party, so this is a bit of a problem".
Each time the former Andrews government minister was faced with evidence that Mr Carr alleged demonstrated he had not acted "ethically, reasonably and in good faith", Mr Somyurek rejected it, deflecting attention to the actions of others.
"If you're going to say there are good guys and bad guys in the Labor Party based on this stuff then there are no good guys in the Labor Party, Mr Carr, there are no good guys, and I can tell you that," Mr Somyurek said.
As he had done for days, Mr Somyurek on Friday attempted to say what another person in another faction had been involved in. This was his modus operandi: justify and rationalise wrongdoing because it has been so widespread. This was the culture, he said, that he had been inducted into.
It's no doubt that this aspect of Mr Somyurek's evidence is true. But even by his own admission, he "lost all perspective" in the fierce battle against a rival faction, the Socialist Left. In a statement to IBAC, party elders Jenny Macklin and Steve Bracks, who conducted a review of the Victorian branch of the ALP following an investigation last year by The Age and 60 Minutes, said while branch stacking was not limited to one grouping, his faction, Moderate Labor, "represented the most egregious conduct".
A constant theme of Mr Somyurek's time in the witness box was a debate about the legality of taxpayer-funded staff doing work to boost the interests of their faction during work hours.
After the so-called "red shirts" rort where staffers were used to campaign for Labor in the 2014 election, the Andrews government strengthened the law to ensure political staff could not work on election campaigns.
However, it did not explicitly ban staff from doing factional work unrelated to elections. Mr Somyurek argued the law was specifically worded in this way to allow parties to keep using MPs' staff for internal party-political work. A key question arising from the inquiry is what reforms Commissioner Redlich will propose to clean up the system.
One option could be to expressly ban staffers from doing party work during work hours. This would disrupt the operations of both major parties, where MPs often hire staff who are factional operatives and loyal to their interests and the party. Mr Somyurek suggested on Friday the government might use this opportunity to clarify the laws and make it legal for staffers to do factional work, creating a clear delineation between political staff and public servants. But this would be politically untenable for the government. It is more likely the government will be pressured to move in opposite direction.
"This has got to be addressed," Commissioner Redlich said of the incentive for politicians to use public resources to boost their factional power to maintain their position in parliament.
When Mr Somyurek appeared before IBAC for the first time on Monday, he was beaming. He cracked jokes and gave lengthy, convoluted explanations that repeatedly drew criticism from the commissioner and counsel assisting.
Is it not true to say that for a long of period of time after the 60 Minutes and Age expose that you were considering presenting a false of picture of what really went on in your office … ?
Commissioner Robert Redlich
By Friday, he seemed worn down by the week, at one point breaking down while talking about his parents. Commissioner Redlich told the former minister he had "come a long way" since the start of his evidence.
"Is it not true to say that for a long of period of time after the 60 Minutes and Age expose that you were considering presenting a false of picture of what really went on in your office … and it's only been in more recent times that you have been willing to acknowledge things that previously you were not prepared to do?" Mr Redlich asked.
Mr Somyurek said: "Yes, and it's liberating."
He acknowledged he had stacked branches, paid for people's ALP memberships, hired people as part of a factional patronage system and not explicitly told his staff they should not be involved in factional work during taxpayer-funded working hours.
Former Supreme Court judge and current IBAC Commissioner Robert Redlich.
He was also forced to listen to uncomfortable conversations he had had with factional allies, including Robin Scott, Marlene Kairouz and influential insider Andrew Landeryou, in the lead up to and after the media expose in an initial attempt to discover what the media had uncovered, and then to justify the allegations.
In a three-way conversation between Mr Somyurek, Ms Kairouz and Mr Scott – all government ministers at the time – in the days leading up to the expose, Mr Somyurek said he was worried the investigation would trigger an IBAC investigation.
Ms Kairouz responded: "Well, let it be before IBAC."
"F---. No, it's pretty bad," Mr Somyurek replied.
Mr Somyurek spent $1 million on his wages bill in the four years to June 2020. The overwhelming evidence made public by IBAC, and acknowledged by Mr Somyurek, is that all that money bought very little electorate work.
When Commissioner Redlich told him on Friday afternoon he would be released from his summons, Mr Somyurek responded: "Yay."
The hearings will resume on November 26.
Adem Somyurek
Sumeyya Ilanbey is a state political reporter for The Age.Connect via Twitter or email.
Paul Sakkal is a Victorian political reporter for The Age.Connect via Twitter or email.