The Victorian Ombudsman has issued a fresh report into Labor’s ‘red shirts scandal’. 

In 2015, the scandal - dubbed ‘Rorts for Votes’ by the Herald Sun - erupted when Labor’s misuse of taxpayers’ money through the party’s community action network was exposed.

The year before, grassroots campaign organisers wearing red shirts had been deployed to marginal seats Labor sought to win at the 2014 election.

In her first inquiry into the matter, Victorian ombudsman Deborah Glass found that the scheme broke parliamentary rules when 21 Labor MPs signed off on wages to be paid to casual electorate officers that were actually working as campaign organisers.

Following her report in 2018, Ms Glass did not recommend further police investigation and Labor paid back about $380,000.

But the scandal deepend when police conducted raids of the homes of 17 former Victorian Labor party campaign staff. Many were arrested and interviewed, with at least one person saying he was strip-searched and placed in a holding cell. No charges were laid. 

In February of this year, sacked minister Adem Somyurek claimed Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews knew about the scheme in the lead-up to the 2014 election. This led the Victorian Parliament to ask the ombudsman to re-consider the matter, and potentially refer the red shirts scandal to IBAC. 

In her latest report on the matter, released this week, Ms Glass said no new evidence was provided that would substantially change the findings of the 2018 report. She suggested it should be the last time she is called to look into the red shirts issue. 

“It is time to end this debate,” Ms Glass said.

“I cannot, of course, rule out that further evidence may yet come to light, but with the passage of time and difficulty in proof I am not prepared to spend further public resources on these matters.”

The report did find that Mr Somyurek had “changed his version of events”, offering differing accounts of a conversation he had with Mr Andrews. Mr Somyurek also failed to hand over emails which he said supported his claims.

“It would be a breach of the parliamentary privilege of freedom of speech for me to question Mr Somyurek's motives or credibility,” Ms Glass said.

“I refrain from comment and allow the evidence, presented in its entirety, to speak for itself.”

The ombudsman said the only evidence that indicated Mr Andrews was involved in the scheme came from verbal statements made by Mr Somyurek, who claimed Mr Andrews told him it was necessary for an election win.

“While Mr Andrews openly confirms he was aware of the scheme, there is no evidence available to me showing that he had any role in designing, propagating, or facilitating it,” Ms Glass said.

The ombudsman had some strong criticisms of Victoria Police's handling of its 2018 investigation, calling on them to apologise to former Labor staff who were arrested. 

She also questioned why police had chosen to reopen an investigation into the matter after her 2018 report found criminal action was not required.

“Despite this strong hint that no further action should be necessary, in July 2018, ombudsman investigators were advised that Victoria Police intended to commence an investigation,” the report said.

“In my view, given that the core evidence remained essentially unchanged since 2014, the 2018 Victoria Police operation contributed to misleading the public perception of the conduct in question.”

Ms Glass said it was “a pity” that senior members of Victoria Police did not stop the dawn arrests of Labor Party campaign staff in 2018 and suggested the force should apologise.