The last sitting week of Parliament was a big one for integrity as a bill put forward by the Liberal Party - IBAC Amendment (Facilitation of Timely Reporting) Bill 2022 and a Greens Bill - IBAC Commission Amendment (Ending Political Corruption) Bill 2023 were up for discussion.
Both these bills started in the Victorian Legislative Council due to the fact that you won't see any bill of this sort come from the Labor-dominated Legislative Assembly.
At least by starting this process in the Council, where the government doesn't have the numbers and has to rely on crossbench support, bills concerning integrity have a chance of getting through there.
If they get through, you know that in going to the Assembly, those bills are dead on arrival and as such it then falls to political messaging to show that the government are opposed to integrity in politics.
IBAC Amendment (Facilitation of Timely Reporting) Bill 2022 This bill was introduced into the Council in December 2022 by the Liberal Party and as the title suggests, seeks to amend legislation to give IBAC more power when it comes to timely reporting of investigations. This is especially instructive given the events of Operation Daintree where IBAC should've reported on it BEFORE the State Election however were unable to due to legal delays.
In addition, there were other delays concerning the time of year IBAC were seeking responses from people but this sought to bring simplified clarification into the process. This amendment bill though essentially was designed to give respondents THREE MONTHS to respond to any adverse allegations before IBAC would be able to release the report.
Now, three months is a perfectly reasonable time to give someone to respond but I would also make the argument that while respondents have the right to defend themselves, there should also be a limit to endless legal action to delay, delay and delay. While that limit exists in our court system, we can and should do better here.
Anyway in a bit of an unusual surprise, most of the crossbench sided with the Liberal Party regarding this bill.
Unfortunately in spite of the Council voting for this bill, it went to the Assembly where it basically was dead on arrival, not even getting past the first reading.
IBAC Commission Amendment (Ending Political Corruption) Bill 2023 This Greens-sponsored bill actually is a lot more important than what most realise. It is designed to address what is the biggest flaw with IBAC at the moment and that is 'what constitutes corrupt conduct?'
At this point in time, the definition hasn't been updated for a number of years. In essence, the current definition concerns offences that are relevant.
By relevant, it refers to offences indictable against an Act AND any common law offences committed in Victoria which include; - Attempting to pervert the course of justice - Bribery of a public official - Perverting the course of justice - Misconduct in public office The bar for launching investigations in Victoria is OUTRAGEOUSLY HIGH. The ability to obtain justice because of this bar is OFFENSIVELY LOW.
What this sought to do was remove the 'relevant offences' clause and allow IBAC to investigate conduct that falls outside the relevant offences clause in place. This is important as it would allow greater scrutiny of the government, public service and relevant bodies and could potentially expose more misconduct and corruption than is currently exposed at the moment.
This is a bill that I would support especially if it forced greater accountability on the government.
Again in what was a surprise, the Opposition and Crossbench sided with the Greens on this bill
What however was very unsurprising is that this bill was again, dead on arrival in the Legislative Assembly.
My Additional Thoughts
These two bills had the express purpose of bringing greater certainty regarding the timely reporting of investigations along with amending the definition of corrupt conduct. Right now, the IBAC is being hobbled by many things and these are just 2 of many. The fact that right now we have a government that seemingly isn't interested in addressing the problems at the IBAC nor allowing the IBAC the necessary powers needed to investigate conduct that currently falls outside the definition of 'relevant offences' quite frankly says it all.
These 4 votes show clearly that politics are at play and equally show that Labor isn't serious when it comes to integrity in politics. All 4 votes that went to division all had Labor voting with the Noes. This simply IS NOT good enough.
Victoria right now has a morally and ethically bankrupt government in charge. This government has been involved either directly or indirectly in FOUR IBAC investigations over the last 4-5 years. Regardless of my thoughts on those investigations, the fact remains that there has been no serious change in the way politics is conducted in this state.
Transparency is on the decline Integrity barely exists Accountability is selective This cannot be allowed to continue and the reality is that we are ALL ASLEEP at the wheel allowing this to happen; whether through how we vote or how we choose to hold the government to account.
Add this to Labor's disgusting performance at the Integrity and Oversight Committee when former IBAC Commissioner Robert Redlich was invited to give evidence. Instead of addressing his thoughts, Labor chose to try and attack him on things (bullying, extra payments) in a bid to divert commentary on his recommendations for reform and it is clear that right now we have a major and currently immovable obstacle when it comes to integrity in politics.
Yes, that's right. The Victorian Labor Party are currently the biggest obstacle to integrity in politics in the state of Victoria.
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