Victoria’s Premier Dan Andrews fraudulently approved $3.4million in grants for the Bill Shorten controlled Health Workers Union (HWU) to conduct training for members knowing that a large part of the money would be illegally siphoned off by Shorten’s crime gang.

The reason Dan Andrews gave them the $3.4million was to gain their support within the Labor Party as Unions control the Labor Party. Dan Andrews is currently being investigated for alleged corruption by Victoria’s Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission (IBAC) because of the fraudulent grants.

The reason I know that Dan Andrews knew a large part of the money would be illegally siphoned off by Shorten’s crime gang is that everyone in the Labor Party and Union movement knows that Shorten’s crime gang has been stealing the HWU member’s money since they took control of the Union in 2012. The HWU is also known as the HSU – Victoria No. 1 Branch but they started using the HWU as a trading name when all their corruption was exposed during the Trade Union Royal Commission and Fair Work Commission hearings.

This matter deals with the fact that Premier Dan Andrews has been able to cover up corruption in his government because Victoria’s Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) is muzzled from having public hearings except in exceptional circumstances. This is important not only to Victorian voters who have an election in a few weeks but also to the new National Anti-Corruption Commission which at this point intends to copy the failed IBAC system of only having public hearings in exceptional circumstances.

This means the public cannot see witnesses lying and deceiving on the witness stand under cross-examination as we could see with former NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and former NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro when they gave evidence at the NSW ICAC. Witnesses being grilled by barristers is one of the key benefits of having public hearings and if Dan Andrews had been forced to give evidence publicly on the witness stand he might have been caught lying on camera like Gladys Berejiklian and John Barilaro were. But instead, Victorians do not have the benefit of the full story only a few weeks before they vote.

Apparently, according to IBAC, a Premier being involved in a $3.4million fraud is not an exceptional circumstance to justify a public hearing. IBAC also have to meet a serious/systemic corruption threshold before they can have public hearings.

IBAC investigation into Dan Andrews

The Age reported on the 4th of November 2022 after there was a leak:

Premier Daniel Andrews is being investigated in a secret anti-corruption commission probe over his role in the awarding of two grants worth $3.4 million to a Labor-linked union on the eve of the 2018 election.

Sources familiar with the IBAC probe, known as Operation Daintree, told The Age the premier and some of his advisers had been a key focus of the investigation, which is looking into how the money was promised to the union despite objections from Health Department officials.

The inquiry is the fourth Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission investigation to interview Andrews during his current term of office, but the first known inquiry to closely query his actions.

At the heart of the anti-corruption investigation are two related grants to the Health Workers Union (HWU) to train hospital staff to deal with violence against health workers.

The Health Department eventually signed off on the first grant in the face of aggressive lobbying of the premier by HWU boss Diana Asmar, despite objections from departmental officials, according to sources with knowledge of the process who spoke to The Age on the condition of anonymity. (Click here to read more)

In 2019, the Andrews government reformed the law to limit the circumstances that hearings could be held in public, to protect the welfare of witnesses. The reforms require IBAC to have reasonable grounds to believe “serious or systemic corrupt conduct” has taken place. (Click here to read more) Given that Dan Andrews has been called to give evidence at least 4 times in the last 4 years it looks like the only witness’s “welfare” being protected by limiting public hearings is Dan Andrews.

An HSU source has told me it was common knowledge at the HWU as far back as at least February 2020 that IBAC was investigating the dodgy $3.4 million deal and that IBAC eventually raided the HWU and took 2 computer servers and numerous documents.

So why has the IBAC investigation taken almost 3 years if not longer? Has IBAC deliberately dragged out the investigation to make sure their report wasn’t published until after the 2022 election?

Bill Shorten’s crime gang stealing from the HWU – Premier Dan Andrews knew about the fraud but still awarded them $3.4 million in taxpayer-funded grants

Below I outline some of my reporting over the last 8 years or so of corruption at the HWU with references to court proceedings, other media and a solvency warning from the Fair Work Commission because they were siphoning off so much money the HWU almost went bankrupt in 2016. (Click here to read the solvency warning letter from the Fair Work Commission)

HWU Secretary Diana Asmar is nothing more than the front person for Bill Shorten’s crime gang which is run by her husband David Asmar and Andrew Landeryou who was married to Kimberley Kitching who died in March this year.

2014 – Trade Union Royal Commission recommend criminal charges against Diana Asmar, Kimberley Kitching and others at the HWU

In December 2014 the Trade Union Royal Commission published an interim report and recommended criminal charges against Kimberley Kitching for dishonestly sitting the Right of Entry Permit tests claiming the tests had been taken by others. Below is an extract from the interim report: 

100. It is recommended that this Interim Report and any other relevant materials be referred, pursuant to s 6P of the Royal Commissions Act 1902 (Cth) and every other enabling power, to the:

(a) Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions in order that consideration may be given to whether:

(iv) each of Diana Asmar, David Eden, Darryn Rowe, Nick Katsis, Saso Trajcevski-Uzunov and Lee Atkinson should be charged with and prosecuted for making a false statement in an application or recklessly making a false statement contrary to ss 136 and 137 of the Criminal Code (Cth) (Chapter 9); and

(v) Kimberly Kitching should be charged with and prosecuted for aiding and abetting the contraventions of each of Diana Asmar, David Eden, Darryn Rowe, Nick Katsis, Saso Trajcevski-Uzunov and Lee Atkinson (Chapter 9); (Click here to read the Trade Union Royal Commission Report)

They never were charged but they should have been. But the Fair Work Commission did catch up with all of them.

2016 – Fair Work Commission ban Diana Asmar and others from entering workplaces due to their role in a testing scam

The head of a scandal-plagued Health Service Union branch in Victoria has lost her legal right to enter workplaces due to her role in a testing scam. Diana Asmar, a close political ally of opposition leader Bill Shorten, had her right of entry permit revoked after a decision by the Fair Work Commission on Friday.

The hearing heard that the No 1. branch’s then general manager Kimberley Kitching and another former HSU employee, Peggy Lee, did tests for other officials. Vice president Graeme Watson described the evidence of Ms Asmar and Ms Kitching as “inherently unlikely”. He said the finding was based on ACTU records and the evidence of witnesses.

Mr Watson said he found it was likely Ms Kitching also did Ms Asmar’s test. “Making false declarations and failing to complete training … are serious matters that strike at the heart of the integrity of the right of entry permit system.” (Click here to read more)

2016 – Fair Work Commission give Diana Asmar and the HWU a solvency warning

The fraud and theft by Shorten’s crime gang was so bad at the HWU in 2016 they received a solvency warning from the Fair Work Commission. (Click here to read more)

I wrote about some of the previous handi-work of Shorten’s crime gang in 2016 in an article titled “Bill Shorten and Andrew Bolt’s mate Andrew Landeryou arrested”. The article includes details of Andrew Landeryou and Dean Sherriff being pursued for a “$4 million Supreme Court writ over an alleged conspiracy to improperly syphon funds from the union.” in 2005 after they ripped off the Melbourne University Student Union. It’s the same scam they have used to rip off the HWU. (Click here to read more)

I wrote an article in February 2015 titled “Bill Shorten’s supporters involved in multi-million-$ fraud at the HSU” which starts off:

It has been well known for a long time that Bill Shorten’s crime gang led by Diana Asmar, David Asmar, Kimberley Kitching and Andrew Landeryou has been ripping off the HSU Victoria Number 1 Branch (known as the Health Workers Union). But now we have the financial report that shows the $millions they have been stealing and rorting from some of the lowest-paid workers in the country.

The financial report is on their website for the 2013/14 year but has only been dated on the 2nd of February 2015 for some reason. (Click here to read the report)

I am not an accountant but even I can see the evidence of the scams they were running. For example wages in the 2013 financial year were $1,820,807 and blew out to $3,451,989 in the 2014 financial year. This is a massive increase of $1,631,182 and consistent with the fact that we knew that Asmar and crew were employing Labor Party and Union cronies to work at the union. In practice, they did very little work except to collect their pay. A prime example would be Kitching who was employed as General Manager on a package of about $120,000 yet did very little if anything.

I have been told in the last few months up to 13 staff have been sacked as the Branch is rapidly running out of money and has very few assets left to sell to keep them going.

On paper it says they made a $735,745 profit for the 2014 year but in fact they really made a loss when the sale of their building is taken into account. The building was sold, without the approval of members, for a reported profit of $2,238,012 but if Andrew Landeryou was involved it is highly likely that some profit was skimmed off the top.

Take the $2,238,012 profit from the sale of the building out of the 2014 finances and the reported $735,745 profit becomes a $1,502,267 loss. This financial year they have no building to sell so that is why they have been sacking staff to try and avoid bankruptcy. They have been selling assets to fleece the union and its members.

I have only dealt with a few issues from the accounts but the whole financial report needs to be forensically audited by fraud experts. Other expenses like legal went from $57,000 to $256,000, printing went from $55,000 to $205,000 and Catering and Entertainment went from $9,988 to $63,275. My guess is that the real fraud and theft is easily at least 3 to 4 $million. (Click here to read more)

Current fraud at the HSU – Victoria No. 1 Branch (HWU)

I have been provided with a spreadsheet comparing the last five annual reports which show the theft continues. (Click here to see the spreadsheet) For example, they have about 14,000 members but have spent $557,000 in the 2020/2021 year on printing. That is about $40 per member which is not believable and is one of the ways they siphon off money from the Union by getting fake invoices. It’s the same scam Andrew Landeryou used at the Melbourne University Student Union and he fled overseas when caught.

The HWU 2022 report has not been published on the Registered Organisations Commission (ROC) website yet which might be because they are worried about the IBAC investigation.

The systemic fraud at HSU – Victoria No. 1 Branch (HWU) was exposed in part at the Trade Union Royal Commission, the annual reports which show the blatant fraud and all the Labor Party cronies that have been employed by the Union to do nothing except collect their weekly pay.

The theft of HWU members’ money continues to this day and everyone in the Union movement and Labor Party knows it is happening which includes Premier Dan Andrews. And Dan Andrews knew that when he awarded the $3.4 grant to the HWU that a large part of it would be siphoned off in a fraud scam. I’ll have more in the next few days or so on the fraud and theft of the HWU and Dan Andrews’ knowledge of it happening.

But what is most scandalous is that evidence and information that goes to the heart of Dan Andrews’ suitability to be Victoria’s Premier is being hidden from voters by the Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission (IBAC).

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