Victor John Perton (born 2 December 1958) is a former parliamentarian in the Australian state of Victoria, and formerly the Victorian Government's Commissioner to the Americas,[1] based in San Francisco, USA.
The same year, Perton ran as the Liberal candidate against Bob Hawke in 1984 Federal Election for his seat of Wills.
He was a Member of the Coalition Tricontinental Taskforce[4] and served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Treasurer with special responsibility for manufacturing industry and economic development.
[13] His wide interpretation of the "rights" to be protected was criticised by some within the government, including committee member and rising backbencher Louise Asher, who produced a dissenting report.
The then foreign minister, Gareth Evans, appointed Perton as an Australian delegate to the Second UN Conference on Human Rights.
[citation needed] In February 2006, Perton announced that he would not contest the next election and relinquished his shadow ministry.
On 17 April 2002, Perton, as Opposition environment spokesman, raised concerns about Land Victoria and its Executive Director, Elizabeth O'Keeffe, regarding attempts to rort the Estate Agents Guarantee Fund.
Specifically, Perton reported that Land Victoria and the Department of Justice (DoJ) had "conspired to invent a 'survey reform' project to extract $7.5 million from the fund.
[21] Perton, in April 2002 in Parliament and earlier in the media, quoted "from documents from 2001 in which the assistant director of land records and information services, Ivan Powell, talks of having 'invented some benefits' in regard to the project and of a request to 'invent another layer of detail'.
[21] Perton reported that the Surveyor-General initially raised his concerns of the proposal to obtain funds from EAGF on 7 March 2001 with O'Keeffe.
The Ombudsman reported that on 17 April 2002, during the Grievances Debate in the Legislative Assembly of the State Parliament, Perton raised allegations of a conspiracy to defraud the EAGF and that senior officers of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DNRE) and the Department of Justice (DoJ) were implicated in this matter.
It was reported by the Ombudsman that senior officers of DNRE attempted to cajole the Surveyor-General to take responsibility for the invented project, which he rightfully declined.
The Auditor-General had prevented an earlier attempt by O’Keeffe-led Land Victoria and the Department of Justice to "raid the EAGF of $45 million".
[21] Perton frequently raised concerns regarding O’Keeffe's performance as the executive director of Land Victoria especially on matters of governance and accountability during the period 2001–02.
[26] His other appointments include to the Transport Accident Commission, the federal government's Council on Australia-Latin America Relations, the Global Integrity Summit and the Australian Centre for Financial Studies.