Premier Daniel Andrews has defended the use of taxpayer funds for two government advertising campaigns deemed politically motivated and illegal by the Victorian Auditor-General Office.
The report, tabled in state parliament on Wednesday, says the state government's Our Fair Share (OFS) and Victoria's Big Build (VBB) campaigns were either fully or partially politicised.
"In our opinion, the campaigns did not fully comply with the 2017 laws. Most OFS and a small number of VBB advertisements were political," VAGO said.
It said some advertisements could be seen to promote the Victorian government and, specifically in the case of the OFS campaign, criticise the Commonwealth government.
The OFS campaign cost $1.7million and ran on television, radio, print and digital mediums in the lead-up to and after the 2019 federal election.
Meanwhile, $11.5 million has been spent on VBB ads since February 2018.
One print advert for the OFS campaign read: "Canberra's proposed funding deal means Victorian public schools could miss out on $500 million of federal funding every year."
A television advertisement also included the line "don't let Canberra short-change our kids".
The auditor-general says statements about the Victorian government had a positive tone, compared to a negative tone about "Canberra".
"They used language such as 'cuts' and 'miss out'," it said.
State government agencies involved in the campaigns denied breaching the Public Administration Act 2004, which was amended in 2017 to ensure government advertising is in the public interest and not party political.
The agencies behind the OFS campaign - the Department of Premier and Cabinet, Department of Education and Training, Department of Health and Department of Transport - argued they were targeting a political issue, not the current Commonwealth government.
The VAGO encouraged the departments to provide evidence the public would have understood "Canberra" referred to the federal parliament, other bodies or the Commonwealth broadly.
"They did not," it said.
In light of the conflicting interpretations, the auditor-general recommended an independent review into whether the laws are clear - a suggestion knocked back by the Department of Premier and Cabinet.
Premier Daniel Andrews said the government believed it complied with all rules and acts, and "wouldn't hesitate" to run the OFS campaign again.
"When the prime minister stops ripping off Victorians, we'll stop running ads telling every Victorian that they're being ripped off by the prime minister from Sydney for Sydney who couldn't find Victoria with a cut lunch and a roadmap," he said.
The Andrews Labor government has repeatedly criticised the federal coalition in recent weeks over GST reforms that purportedly favour Western Australia, and its share of new infrastructure spending in the 2022 budget.
Victorian Opposition Leader Matthew Guy described the VAGO report as damning and called on Labor to repay some of the money.
"I don't see why Victorians should be forced to foot the bill for blatant political advertising that this government palms off as government advertising," he said.
