Victoria’s corruption watchdog treated like a ‘political football’, commissioner says

Key points

• Robert Redlich is the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commissioner.
• He spoke at an IBAC forum on Friday for international anti-corruption day.
• Integrity was a focus of the November state election campaign.

The head of Victoria’s corruption watchdog says politicians misused the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission for political gain during last month’s election campaign and reforms are needed to stop IBAC being treated like a political football.

Outgoing commissioner Robert Redlich said anyone who makes a corruption complaint to IBAC should be barred from announcing the referral publicly to stop politicians casting aspersions on their opponents.

Robert Redlich has previously called for IBAC to be given broader powers to investigate corruption.Credit:Jason South

Both the Labor and Liberal parties publicly accused each other of corruption in the months leading up to the November 26 election, amid a campaign focused on integrity.

The Victorian Liberal Party complained to IBAC a week before the election about claims in a leaked video that so-called preference whisperer Glenn Druery gamed the upper house voting system to benefit Labor.

On the same day, the Victorian Electoral Commission referred then-opposition leader Matthew Guy and his former chief of staff Mitch Catlin to investigators for potential breaches of the state’s donation laws – a saga Labor had also referred for investigation months earlier.

Speaking with The Sunday Age columnist and former radio host Jon Faine on Friday to mark international anti-corruption day, Redlich said complainants should be gagged to stop IBAC becoming a “political football”.

“That’s an occupational hazard for an integrity agency. We start with the not-uncommon practice that when a politician makes a complaint to IBAC it’s followed instantaneously with a public statement that ‘I’ve complained to IBAC about such and such’, so it’s a political football from the outset.

“It’s a harsh but political reality that people will misuse an integrity commission for the purpose of political gain.”

He repeated his view that IBAC should have the power to hold more public hearings and announce that an investigation is under way once it has determined the allegations have merit.

IBAC will also seek to overhaul the parliamentary integrity and oversight committee so that it is not chaired and dominated by government MPs after the commissioner accused MPs of leaking confidential correspondence, compromising investigations, and of blocking him from speaking.

“We are plainly dissatisfied with the way in which the parliamentary committee operated, particularly in the last 12 months,” Redlich said.

“It’s our intention to place before both the assembly and the council as soon as parliament resumes, some documentation dealing with the way in which the parliamentary committee operated, with the hope the parliament will give some urgent consideration to the composition and the constitution of the committee.”

A Victorian government spokeswoman said the makeup of the integrity and oversight committee was a matter for parliament.

Redlich, whose five-year term as IBAC chair ends on December 31, said there were about 35 investigations into potentially criminal conduct under way, but declined to say how many of those involved politicians.

More powers were needed to investigate the increasingly common but equally serious “soft” or legal corruption, he said.

Redlich declined to say whether the premier’s office tipped off IBAC and prompted the watchdog to seek an injunction to stop The Age reporting on a draft anti-corruption review into the Andrews government’s awarding of grants worth $3.4 million to the Health Workers Union.

“I’d rather not comment on that, other than to say there plainly is a government expectation that IBAC will protect its confidential information,” he said.

“No one directed us, we made an internal decision that we really had no choice but to protect the confidential information.”

The Supreme Court awarded the gag order, but The Age reported on the probe based on information gathered outside the draft report.

A Victorian government spokeswoman said Labor had delivered IBAC stronger powers and record funding to support its investigations.

“We will continue to work with IBAC on future reform and to consider their suggestions to make sure they have the powers they need to do their important role.”

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