‘No bad behaviour’: Opposition declines to answer questions on Catlin donor details

The Victorian opposition has refused to answer detailed questions about a donor scandal involving leader Matthew Guy’s former chief of staff, saying it will not discuss specific elements of the matter while it is being considered by authorities.

Victoria Police confirmed it would assess a referral by Labor after The Age revealed a donor was approached to make more than $100,000 in payments to Mitch Catlin’s private marketing company, Catchy Media Marketing and Management, on top of his salary, in a proposal that never came to fruition.

Matthew Guy speaks to the media on Tuesday.Credit:Wayne Taylor

On Tuesday, Guy accepted the resignation of friend and chief of staff Catlin, who unsuccessfully sought payments from wealthy Liberal donor Jonathan Munz in addition to his publicly funded salary, according to an email to Guy’s private Hotmail account, seen by The Age.

“Hey MG. Attached is the proposed agreement between [the donor] and Catchy Media Marketing and Management,” Catlin wrote. “It’s as per the original email agreement between you and me. Can I leave you to forward onto him?”

Guy has denied forwarding the email to the donor. No payment was made, and no contract was signed, he said.

The government has referred the matter to Victoria Police, the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission and the state ombudsman to determine whether Guy or Catlin should be investigated for the offence of conspiring to engage in potentially corrupt conduct. The Victorian Electoral Commission confirmed it was making preliminary inquiries into the matter. Labor also referred the matter to the Australian Federal Police in case the donor, whose name was not public at the time, was a foreign entity. Lunz is Australian.

Mitch Catlin.Credit:Tash Sorensen

The opposition’s government scrutiny spokeswoman, Louise Staley, said the opposition would fully cooperate with any inquiry but insisted no bad behaviour occurred and that the scandal did not compare to Labor’s record on integrity.

“There is no bad behaviour here because it didn’t proceed,” Staley said. “We believe in integrity. We believe that we need to be seen to have integrity.

“For this government to be out there peddling garbage like they’re peddling at the moment that there’s some sort of equivalence – well, it’s just a bit rich.”

Staley declined to answer details and release the full email chain in which Guy’s private Hotmail account was included in a discussion about “the agreement”. Staley said the opposition would let police and integrity agencies do their work and cooperate fully.

Victoria Police confirmed the referral would be assessed. IBAC and the ombudsman declined to comment.

Munz, whose family was estimated to be worth $1.24 billion in 2019, made his fortune as the founder of plumbing supplies company Reliance Worldwide Corporation. The horse racing figure funded a High Court bid that unsuccessfully sought to prove the Victorian government’s COVID-19-related restrictions on movement were unconstitutional. Companies he controlled have made large donations to the Liberal Party, including a $100,000 donation in 2017-18.

In a statement, Munz said: “I do not know how many people received this unsolicited and unwanted email, but when I got it, I rejected it out of hand.”

Integrity is a central election issue ahead of the November state poll, with the opposition attempting to cast the Andrews government as unethical after the IBAC and ombudsman found Labor had a rotten culture.

Coalition MPs expressed nervousness about the potential political damage that could be caused by the episode. In particular, they were worried that Guy was susceptible to attacks on political integrity because of the “lobster with a mobster” dinner, where he dined with an alleged mafia boss, and scandals as a planning minister in the Baillieu-Napthine government.

Victorian Government Services Minister Danny Pearson said Guy’s position had been severely compromised but said it was up to police and integrity agencies to consider whether he acted improperly.

“Last time around, he ran a strong campaign on law and order, yet was found to be having dinner with alleged members of the mafia. This time around, he’s running a strong campaign on integrity, and he’s been shown to have none,” Pearson said.

In his referral letter to the agencies, Pearson said the “attempted entering into of an agreement involving the disbursement of funds in a political context for ‘supporting business interests’ naturally invites consideration” of a finding of potentially corrupt conduct.

Deputy Premier Jacinta Allan told reporters: “Matthew Guy really needs to come clean as quickly as possible with the Victorian community about his role in this extraordinary secret arrangement that would have sought to subvert the strict donation laws in our state.”

“Quite frankly, I think the sooner he answers these questions the better,” she said.

“It’s a demonstration that he has completely compromised himself now and for any future role,” Allan said.

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