Two state government advertising campaigns were either partially or predominantly political and in breach of current laws to ensure public interest, a Victorian Auditor-General Office report found on Wednesday.
It said some advertisements from the Our Fair Share (OFS) and Victoria's Big Build (VBB) campaigns could be seen to promote the Victorian government and, specifically in the case of OFS, criticise the Commonwealth government.
The agencies involved in the campaigns denied breaching the Public Administration Act 2004 and argued they were targeting a political issue, not the federal government.
The VAGO said the Ombudsman and Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission wrote to Premier Daniel Andrews about the OFS campaign in August 2019, but decided an investigation "could not be justified".
"They said that it was highly unlikely that department secretaries' statements that they were motivated solely by the public interest could be contradicted," the VAGO report said.
"However, they stated, 'we consider that the timing and content of the campaign advertisements would have had the effect of influencing public sentiment against the Government of the Commonwealth.
"This would have been the likely perception of a reasonable member of the Victorian public, whatever their political allegiance'."
Shadow police spokesman Brad Battin wrote to Ombudsman Deborah Glass and IBAC Commissioner Robert Redlich on Thursday asking them to take another look.
"As part of (the Ombudsman's) current investigation into the politicisation of the Victorian public service, I welcome your consideration of further investigating the Auditor-General's findings," reads his letter, seen by AAP.
When asked about the opposition's referral, Premier Daniel Andrews said the integrity agencies had already made their decision and described the matter as "settled".
He launched another impassioned defence of the campaigns, saying the Victorian government was "entitled" not to sit back and cheer the Commonwealth when "they rip us off".
"That's not what a good government does," Mr Andrews said.
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