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November 6th, 2011 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda
Peter Ryan. Photo: Justin McManus
It’s hard to believe the Deputy Premier had no idea what was going on.
YOU can’t help but wonder if Justin Madden felt a little smug reading the Office of Police Integrity’s report into the secret plot within Coalition ranks to bring down Victoria’s chief commissioner. After all, it wasn’t that long ago that Coalition MPs wanted Madden’s resignation over another political calamity: the Windsor Hotel scandal.
Remember that one? Madden was a Brumby government planning minister under pressure over a leaked email that suggested running a sham consultation process to justify halting the hotel’s redevelopment.
The Labor MP insisted he had nothing to do with the strategy, which was written by his media adviser, Peta Duke. Naturally, Ted Baillieu and his troops didn’t agree. They argued Madden must have played a part; the buck should always stop with the minister, right?
Politics is a game of swings and roundabouts, where the things you say in opposition can come back to haunt you. Now we have a situation where Baillieu’s deputy, Peter Ryan, is insisting he had ”absolutely no idea” of the plotting and scheming the OPI says took place from within his own office against then chief commissioner Simon Overland.
The OPI’s findings could hardly be more extraordinary. In summary, Ryan’s police adviser, Tristan Weston, embarked on a campaign of media leaks and secret schemes, ”which almost certainly contributed to the course of events that led to the chief commissioner’s resignation”.
The plan was to oust Overland in favour of his deputy, Sir Ken Jones. To make matters worse, Ryan’s parliamentary secretary, Bill Tilley, got caught up in it all, attending a meeting at Sir Ken’s home with Weston to urge him to stay in the job as Victoria’s police crisis intensified earlier this year.
Weston has since been banished from government, Tilley has quit as Ryan’s junior minister, and Sir Ken remains under a cloud as we await the findings of a second OPI report.
Ryan’s accountability is a different story. ”If I felt that in the remotest shape or form that I had done the wrong thing and not conducted myself appropriately in all this, then I would give regard to other considerations. I don’t feel that,” Ryan said.
Indeed, there’s no evidence in the OPI report to suggest Ryan was complicit in Overland’s downfall (although this is hardly surprising, given it doesn’t have the power to investigate ministers and its inquiries were centred on Jones and Weston). But there’s little doubt his reputation as Baillieu’s straight-shooting deputy has been eroded, partly because of his refusal to accept any responsibility for the mess.
Ryan was often regarded as the Chris Judd of the government, the bloke you could rely on to help carry the team. The 61-year-old Nationals leader is one of cabinet’s best performers: a plain-speaking MP who rebuilt his party after the Kennett years and now has the second most powerful job at Spring Street.
Which is why the findings of the OPI report, and his response to it, have been all the more surprising. Even if you accept Ryan didn’t know what Weston and Tilley were up to, you’ve got to question why one of the government’s sharpest ministers had no idea what was going on.
It was no secret that Weston (a former cop) despised Overland, and his views were well known even before he became Ryan’s adviser. Somehow, the alarm bells didn’t ring. Ryan now admits Weston’s actions contributed to Overland’s demise, yet he’s refused to apologise to him.
But it’s his decision to publicly question Tilley’s honesty that has alarmed colleagues the most. Tilley told the OPI under oath he’d informed the minister about his meeting with Sir Ken, and stands by his evidence to this day. Ryan rejects the suggestion: ”I don’t believe that was the case,” he says.
All this has left Baillieu facing a number of unwanted headaches as Parliament resumes this week. The first is the threat to Coalition unity. While National MPs have rallied behind their leader, some within the Liberal camp are outraged at the way Tilley has been cut adrift. As one MP put it: ”The guy has virtually been thrown under a bus to stem the damage.”
Second, the political pain. Not surprisingly, Labor plans to make as much mileage from the OPI report as it can, starting with plans for a special parliamentary committee to test the discrepancies between Ryan’s and Tilley’s evidence.
Third, after winning office promising higher ideals, the government’s integrity has now been clouded, its law and order agenda undermined, and the credibility of its Deputy Premier damaged. It’s not exactly the kind of scenario Baillieu and Ryan wanted on the eve of the government’s first anniversary.
Farrah Tomazin is state political editor. Twitter: @FarrahTomazin
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