Police reportedly calling Labor MPs in for questioning over payment of campaign organisers at last election

Rorting allegations dating back to the 2014 Victorian election are threatening to derail the state poll next month.

Victoria police have this week reportedly begun calling Labor MPs in for questioning over the so-called “Red shirts” scandal, where campaign organisers were salaried as casual electorate officers despite performing duties that ought to be paid for by the party, not the taxpayer.

The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, ordered the Australian Labor party to pay back $388,000 in August, following a report by the Victorian ombudsman which pointed the finger at 21 Labor MPs and recommended a police investigation.

'Red Shirts' scandal could rip through Victorian Labor's election plans Read more

The timing of the interviews, just seven weeks out from the 24 November election, has recentred the issue in the campaign.

The promises

Labor has continued to focus its efforts on public transport, securing a promise of $300m in federal funding from Bill Shorten to begin funding the proposed suburban rail loop, which would connect Melbourne’s outer suburbs. The funding matches $300m already contributed by the Andrews government, which has already shelled out $5bn for the $10bn airport rail link, and is contingent on Labor winning the 2019 federal election.

State Labor also committed an extra $100m to a technical plan for high-speed rail to the regional city of Ballarat and duplicating the rail tracks between the city and Sunbury station, bringing the total planning funding commitment to $150m.

The journey to Ballarat currently takes an hour and 15 minutes on the express peak-hour service. It’s one of the destinations nominated in the Liberal party’s cornerstone transport policy, a $19bn high-speed regional rail network which would cut the Ballarat commute to 45 minutes and take 10 years to complete.

Victoria’s regional rail woes were underlined by a signal fault on Tuesday, which threatened to strand commuters to Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo in Melbourne.

On Wednesday, Labor promised to build an additional 1,000 public housing homes by 2022 at a cost of $309m.

In education, the opposition has pledged to pay for the textbooks of students who attend a public high school, saving families about $500 per student per year. It has not stated now much the proposal will cost, but says it would be rolled out to students in years seven to nine from 2020, with years 10 to 12 following within two years. Meanwhile, the government unveiled a so-called Australian-first policy that would see 5,000 kindergarteners learn a foreign language.

Mandatory sentences

The number of new mandatory sentences for violent crimes proposed by the opposition has risen to 14 with the announcement this week of three changes designed to target family violence.

They are: two years mandatory jail for contravening a family violence order notice or intending to cause harm or fear; three years for persistent contravention of a family violence notice; and a new offence of non-fatal strangulation which would carry a mandatory minimum sentence for repeat offenders of six years.

UFU and the Herald Sun too

A factional dispute over Labor preselection for the upper house seat of Eastern Victoria is headed to court over allegations the Herald Sun is in contempt of court for a series of articles accusing the United Firefighters Union of bullying former emergency services minister Jane Garrett, Fairfax Media reports.

Garrett is the lead candidate for the seat but UFU member Geoffrey Barker is trying to block her preselection, saying he missed out on nominating for preselection by just seven minutes.

The UFU campaigned strongly for the Andrews government in 2014 and later pressured the state into backing an industrial agreement opposed by both Garrett and the Country Fire Authority, forcing Garrett to resign.

Nostalgia. Be in it

The state opposition has proposed reviving the 1970s public health campaign “Life. Be in it” as part of a broader strategy to combat obesity.

The campaign featured an egg-shaped man, Norm, who learned about obesity and the importance of healthy eating and regular activity via the television. In one memorable instalment Norm, distressed to discover he has a flat tyre on a Saturday, hears a disembodied voice from the “TV good fairy” that said: “You will get to the TAB today ... you’ll walk, son.”

Opposition health spokeswoman Mary Wooldridge said it made sense to bring back the recognised brand, which also had a brief revival on its 25th anniversary in 2000, rather than create an entirely new campaign.