Matthew Guy denies Liberal party is stalling donation inquiries until after Victorian election
The Victorian opposition leader, Matthew Guy, has denied the Liberal party is exploiting a legal loophole to stymie donation-based investigations until after the state election.
Ten days out from polling day, the opposition leader was on Wednesday swatting away questions over separate ongoing electoral commission probes linked to his party.
One relates to his former chief of staff Mitch Catlin soliciting a billionaire Liberal donor to make more than $100,000 in payments to his private marketing company, while the second focuses on the party’s “Ditch Dan” fundraiser.
The commission has confirmed neither will be completed before the 26 November election, with the latter waylaid after a request to review written notices used to compel people and parties to hand over information.
While visiting Cheltenham in Melbourne’s south-east to announce a Victorian-made campaign if elected, Guy said there was no stalling, insisting he and the party were fully cooperating.
“What we’ve been asked for, what
I’ve been asked for, we’ve given,” Guy said.
“I respectfully disagree with that analysis. When I’m asked for information, I provide every bit of it.”
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Guy said he had not been interviewed by the commission over the Catlin matter but would agree to one if asked.
Integrity has been a major issue this election campaign, with the premier, Daniel Andrews, and Labor linked to an anti-corruption commission probe into a union’s health worker training grant worth about $3.4m and signed shortly before the 2018 election.
Andrews, meanwhile, was in Parkville on Wednesday to pledge $79m to reform women’s health across the state, including $5m for a research institute.
The initiative is designed to close the gender gap in medical research, doubling the number of surgeries for endometriosis and associated conditions.
It would pave the way for an extra 10,800 laparoscopies to be performed in public hospitals over the next four years.
Support groups would be established for women to receive assistance with issues such as endometriosis, period pain and menopause.
“This is about hearing women and believing women, and making sure we do more and do better to provide Victorian women with the care that they need,” Andrews said.
It comes as the Greens pre-emptively issue a list of demands to Labor in the event of a hung parliament.
With recent polls indicating the race is tightening, the state’s Greens leader, Samantha Ratnam, has revealed her party’s priorities.
They include banning gas exploration and production; capping rent increases in line with wages; building more public and affordable housing; passing integrity reforms; raising the age of criminal responsibility to 14; and ending native forest logging next year.
The Greens are hopeful of increasing their lower house seat numbers from three to six after a third of Victorians voted for minor parties and independents at the federal election in May.
Andrews has repeatedly said Labor will not do a deal with the Greens or independents to form a minority government.