A ‘staged’ meeting and a secret deal: how a union boss exerted ‘extraordinary influence’ on the Andrews government

Integrity experts say Ibac’s report exposes a deeper problem with Victoria’s anti-corruption laws Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast In April 2016, the firefighters’ union leader, Peter Marshall, walked into the Victorian premier’s office at 1 Treasury Place carrying what appeared to be a breakthrough: a union “proposal” that promised to end one of the state’s most bitter industrial disputes. When questioned years later by Victoria’s anti-corruption watchdog, the then premier, Daniel Andrews, said the duo did not discuss its substance. “It was to give, if you like, an assurance that we were fair dinkum, that we were genuine, that we were good faith actors,” Andrews said of the meeting. But the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (Ibac) reached a different view. In its Operation Richmond report, tabled in parliament on Wednesday, Ibac concluded the meeting appeared to have been “staged” so there would be a witness to the proposal being formally presented to government by Marshall. Days later, it was then presented to cabinet as though it had come from the union. Min