Vic ombudsman seeks advice from court

Victoria's ombudsman has asked the Supreme Court to settle controversy about whether her office can investigate allegations that some Labor MPs rorted taxpayer-funded electorate allowances during the 2014 election.

The upper house in November asked Ombudsman Deborah Glass to investigate whether Labor MPs used electoral staff in their election campaign.

Parliamentary rules for employing electorate officers say they can't be used for political campaigning.

The vote followed an internal report that found Labor's use of electorate office funds to pay 26 staff for two days a week of election campaigning would not "pass the pub test" among voters.

Premier Daniel Andrews has repeatedly denied there was any wrongdoing, and Special Minister of State Gavin Jennings wrote to the ombudsman saying her office did not have the power to conduct the investigation.

Ms Glass said last year she thought she did have the jurisdiction.

Now she has asked the Supreme Court to settle the "genuine controversy" over her office's power to investigate the matter.

She said she also wants to avoid the public having to foot a bill for an investigation that could turn out to be outside the ombudsman's jurisdiction.

Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said Labor's actions were "dodgy".

"It just stinks to me when you've the Labor government trying to scuttle an ombudsman investigation into Labor's own electoral rorts," he told reporters on Monday.

Two Victorian Labor staffers revealed last year they worked as full-time Labor field organisers even though they were employed by the Victorian Parliament two days a week.