Lenders leaves VicTrack

A KEY architect of Labor’s rorts-for-votes scheme has resigned from a prized taxpayerfunded job ahead of tomorrow’s release of a major Ombudsman investigation into the scandal.

Former Labor treasurer John Lenders’ resignation as chair of the government-run rail company, VicTrack, was confirmed yesterday.

Mr Lenders helped set up a community campaign team, dubbed the “red shirts”, that Premier Daniel Andrews has credited with playing a key role in Labor’s 2014 election victory.

Mr Lenders’ resignation from the $90,000-a-year public job has sparked concerns among Labor MPs that the report by Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass could be highly damaging to the government.

Ms Glass is probing revelations by Labor whistleblowers — first reported by News Corp in September 2015 — that hundreds of thousands of dollars in public money was misused.

The taxpayer funds were used by Labor MPs to pay for staff who were supposed to work as electorate officers, but were then controversially deployed to campaign for Labor in marginal seats.

Some of them had almost no contact with the MPs who employed them and instead ran doorknocking and phone database operations.

Whistleblowers said Mr Lenders was the one who had detailed to the field organisers in 2014 how they would be paid, with Labor picking up the tab for three days a week and the parliament paying for two days.

When asked whether that was legal, whistleblowers said Mr Lenders allegedly told them it was a “fine line” but should be OK.