Give corruption watchdog teeth to follow the money, government told

Victoria’s anti-corruption watchdog should be unleashed to follow taxpayer dollars granted to private companies and to pursue “grey corruption”, a parliamentary inquiry has found.

The bipartisan integrity and oversight committee said the state’s existing framework limited the capacity of investigators and weakened enforcement by the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC).

“Legislative reform is both necessary and timely, in order to strengthen decision-making, transparency and fairness, improve accountability and public confidence in IBAC,” the committee wrote in its report published on Thursday.

The committee said IBAC should be able to investigate misconduct that did not meet the threshold of a criminal offence, to bring its scope into line with its federal and NSW counterparts.

“Why should IBAC be prevented from exposing forms of corruption in Victoria that can be investigated in NSW?” committee chair and Greens integrity spokesman Tim Read said in a statement on Thursday.

To meet the 31 recommendations to make the watchdog’s framework fit for purpose, the committee also called on the government to adequately fund IBAC to do the extra work.

It includes granting IBAC “follow-the-dollar” powers to oversee the use of public funds through private entities such as subcontractors.

“IBAC’s power to investigate alleged corruption in publicly funded projects carried out by private companies is unclear in an era when so much government work is outsourced,” the report said.

This could enable the watchdog to more closely investigate alleged corruption in Victoria’s building industry.

Last week, IBAC commissioner Victoria Elliott told The Age she had lobbied the Allan government for follow-the-dollar powers.

She agreed the threshold for investigating corruption was too high in Victoria, and “the highest in the country”.

“We want our legislation to be more contemporary and to be in line with the majority of the anti-corruption agencies across the country,” she said.

The committee further recommended that IBAC should deal with complaints about serious police misconduct, and refer them back to Victoria Police only in exceptional circumstances.

To do so, IBAC should formally establish a dedicated police corruption and misconduct division, the committee said.

But the MPs accepted fears that its broadened remit could also exacerbate concerns about the watchdog’s resources.

Integrity Oversight Victoria had warned that expanding the watchdog’s capacity to investigate public sector corruption could also reduce resources to oversee police or create unrealistic expectations.

“The committee agrees that in broadening IBAC’s jurisdiction, the Victorian government should ensure there is sufficient resources for investigations, especially in consideration of maintaining high-quality police oversight,” the report said.

The Centre for Public Integrity welcomed the report’s release, having long called for IBAC’s jurisdiction to be expanded, and urged the government to act swiftly.

“The Victorian IBAC’s jurisdiction has long paled in comparison to that of most other integrity commissions around the country,” the centre’s chair, Anthony Whealy, KC, said.

Committee members were unable to agree on whether IBAC should have expanded powers to interview witnesses in public hearings for more of its investigations, which IBAC had called for.

Read, of the Greens, and Legalise Cannabis MP Rachel Payne sought the change but were overruled by government and opposition MPs.

A new offence for destroying or concealing evidence was also recommended.

The government has yet to respond to the report’s findings.

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