Daniel Andrews’ government engaged in ‘concerning’ conduct but no evidence of firefighter union blackmail: Ibac report

Anti-corruption watchdog’s long-awaited report finds ‘serious and concerning’ conduct by senior government members in dealings with union boss Senior members of the former Daniel Andrews government engaged in “serious and concerning” conduct in their dealings with firefighters union boss Peter Marshall, a long-awaited report by the Victoria’s anti-corruption watchdog has found. The report by the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (Ibac) was tabled in parliament on Wednesday, some eight years after their investigation first began. While it did not find any individuals engaged in corrupt conduct, the report said senior members of the Andrews government engaged in “serious and concerning” conduct in their dealings with Marshall – the secretary of the United Firefighter Union (UFU) – when negotiating pay deals for the Country Fire Authority (CFA) and Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB), and their later amalgamation into Fire Services Victoria (FSV).

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Scoop News DeskVictoria · Published Wednesday, August 5, 2026 at 12:17 AM UTCUpdated Wednesday, August 5, 2026 at 12:47 AM UTC

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This included “actions contrary to policy, procedure and codes of conduct, deliberate attempts to conceal and mislead, and the misuse of information.” Ibac also found the government made an “undisclosed deal” with Marshall , “to the exclusion of other key stakeholders,” which allowed him to “exert extraordinary influence over the negotiations” for both the CFA and MFB enterprise bargaining agreements.