Wednesday, 8 March 2023

Integrity and Oversight Committee

Performance of the Victorian Integrity Agencies 2020/21: Focus on Witness Welfare

Steve McGHIE (Melton) (10:33): I rise to contribute to the committee report for the Integrity and Oversight Committee, Performance of the Victorian Integrity Agencies 2020/21: Focus on Witness Welfare. The Integrity and Oversight Committee (IOC) is responsible for monitoring and reviewing the performance of Victoria’s integrity agencies such as the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission, IBAC; the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner, OVIC; the Victorian Inspectorate; and the Victorian Ombudsman. This report goes to 2020–21 and the inquiry reviewing the management of witness welfare.

Firstly, I would just like to extend my thanks to the secretariat and the great work that they do in assisting the committee and assisting with the outcome of this report, in particular Sean Coley, the committee manager; Dr Stephen James, the senior research officer; Tom Hvala, research officer; Holly Brennan, complaints and research assistant; Maria Marasco, committee administrative officer; and Bernadette Pendergast, committee administrative officer. As the initial chair of the IOC in the 59th Parliament, I could not thank the secretariat enough for their support of myself and the committee at the time, and the deputy chair, the member for Sandringham, is nodding his head and acknowledging that also. They were fantastic and still are fantastic. They do great work, and sometimes it is thankless work. I want to acknowledge the contribution of the committee members in particular during my period as the chair of the IOC in the 59th Parliament.

The report reviews the performance of the agencies during 2020 and 2021, focusing on their management of the welfare of witnesses and others involved in their investigations. The committee closely examined the integrity agencies’ annual reports for 2020–21. The agencies also appeared before the committee at public hearings, provided written submissions and answered questions on notice regarding their performance during the reporting period and their management of witness welfare. Finally, the committee received written submissions and other responses from interstate and international integrity agencies, non-integrity organisations with expertise and experience in witness welfare and members of the public relating to the agency’s management of witness welfare. I should say in my previous life as the secretary of the ambulance union I was representing a number of my members, paramedic members, that were called as witnesses before IBAC investigations, and I have a firsthand knowledge of the effects of the process of being a witness under these investigations and the mental trauma, I suppose, that happens out of these investigations.

I congratulate the member for Narre Warren South for his re-election as the chair of the IOC. It is not an easy role. Sometimes there is conflict and tension, but I know that he will do a wonderful job, as he has done previously in the 59th Parliament. I know he will carry that through into this Parliament and chair the IOC very well with some support from, I believe, the same deputy chair as in the 59th Parliament – I hope. I wish him well going forward.

This is a very good report, and as I say, it is an important report in regard to witness welfare and some of the recommendations that have been made in dealing with witnesses and supporting witnesses when they present under investigation processes. It is a great report, and I commend this report to the house.