IBAC a ‘haven for politicians’, warns former commissioner Redlich

Victoria’s anti-corruption laws in their current form provide a “safe haven for politicians and public officers” and are seriously hindered from exposing misconduct, its former commissioner has warned.

Robert Redlich, KC, made the claim in a submission to a parliamentary inquiry looking at the adequacy of the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission framework.

Redlich was IBAC commissioner for five years, until 2023. On Monday, he will give evidence on behalf of himself and the Accountability Roundtable – a group of lawyers and legal and political advocates – at the inquiry’s first hearing.

His submission renewed his call that the watchdog’s jurisdiction should be expanded to capture misconduct that does not constitute a crime. “The existing requirement that the conduct must be criminal to be corrupt seriously hinders IBAC from being an effective integrity oversight body,” Redlich wrote.

“Breaches of integrity in public office involves a spectrum of improper conduct, only a small proportion of which can be deemed criminal. The rest – grey corruption – is equally deleterious to the public interest, but it is presently beyond IBAC’s reach, unlike other effective integrity commissions.”

This was echoed in submissions from IBAC itself, the Victorian Bar, the Australian Lawyers Alliance, the Law Institute of Victoria, and the Centre for Public Integrity.

The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) submitted that its own effectiveness was largely due to its broader definition of “corrupt conduct”, which does not have to reach the criminal threshold.

ICAC said that, if it had been restrained by IBAC’s definition of corruption, it probably would not have been able to investigate former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian and make its findings.

The framework around the new National Anti-Corruption Commission also does not limit corrupt conduct to crimes.

Redlich also wants to stop politically motivated complaints by expanding confidentiality provisions to prevent complainants from going public. “It is unfortunately the case that there have been numerous occasions where a person making a complaint to IBAC has then immediately made public the fact of their complaint.”

Redlich’s submission said that “grey corruption”, which falls shy of the legal definition, was “far more prevalent”.

“Herein lies the key to understanding why defining corruption as a ‘relevant offence’ provides a safe haven for politicians and public officers who serve them and has such a disabling effect for an integrity commission in exposing breaches of integrity.”

The submission renews a long-running and often bitter public battle that Redlich had with the state government over integrity matters. His relationship with Labor MPs previously on the watchdog’s oversight committee became particularly strained during a fiery hearing in August 2023 after his retirement.

At that hearing, Redlich accused Labor MPs of trying to derail his testimony rather than hear his concerns. The confrontation followed an earlier letter in which he claimed Labor MPs sought revenge for IBAC investigations by instructing an auditor to “dig up dirt” on the watchdog. At the time of the 2023 hearing, the government dismissed his concerns.

In NSW, the decision over whether to hold a public examination – like the one in which Berejiklian was questioned – rests on a public interest test. But in Victoria, IBAC’s public interrogations can only be held in “exceptional circumstances”.

Redlich also recommended lowering this threshold by removing the requirement for “exceptional circumstances”. Interviews can also only be held in public when the subject is being investigated for “serious corrupt conduct” or “systemic corrupt conduct”.

“Given the prevalence of grey corruption in the public sector, the primary beneficiaries of this unsatisfactory and overly protective legislative regime is obvious whilst the public interest continues to suffer,” Redlich wrote.

IBAC also called for the exceptional circumstances test to be removed.

Redlich pointed out that the major parties at the federal level supported the “exceptional circumstances” provision for the NACC, while minor parties and independents opposed it.

“This speaks loudly as to why governments seek to severely limit public examinations.”

ICAC, in its submission, said its ability to hold public inquiries was necessary and appropriate to effectively investigate, expose and prevent corruption.

The committee has been chaired by Greens MP Tim Read since 2023, when the crossbench extracted concessions that it no longer be government-led to spare the government an upper house inquiry into Redlich’s concerns. Read at the time said the overhauled integrity and oversight committee would be able to investigate Redlich’s concerns.

In July 2023, the committee resolved to inquire into the adequacy of the legislation under which IBAC operates.

A Victorian government spokeswoman said IBAC had extensive powers, and its funding had more than doubled.

“We’ve delivered stronger powers, record funding and budget independence to IBAC,” she said. “We’ll continue to work closely with integrity agencies to ensure they have the powers and resources they need.”

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