Thursday, 24 September 2026

 Ben CARROLL (Niddrie – Premier) (18:13): I move:

That the amendments be agreed to.

I will make some brief remarks. My government stands for integrity, transparency and accountability. That is why we have made making these amendments to the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission Amendment Bill 2026 our highest priority. It is also why we asked members in this place to return for an additional sitting week of the Parliament. I do want to acknowledge the cooperation across both chambers in finalising the details of these IBAC reforms, which are central to the way we work. It is fitting that in this house we have come to this agreement on these important reforms in the same week that we honoured the legacy of the late Dr Tim Read, who was steadfast in his belief that Victoria’s integrity bodies needed to be strengthened. I thank all leaders and members of the crossbench and all members of Parliament that have contributed to this very important legislation.

On the amendments specifically, the government moved an amendment to remove the extraordinary circumstances test for IBAC to hold public examinations. The government moved an amendment to introduce statutory timelines and measures to facilitate timely reporting of IBAC investigations. The government also moved amendments to amend the bill’s transitional provisions to clarify the government’s intended operation of these provisions. The government supported several amendments from the Greens party in relation to the publication of the ministerial code of conduct online and the recruitment of the positions of Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner. This amendment codifies an existing practice of our Labor government. The introduction of budgetary transparency is an important measure for both IBAC and the government of the day. I commend the bill to the house.

 James NEWBURY (Brighton) (18:15): I rise to speak on the amendments to the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission Amendment Bill 2026 and note that we are considering six amendments. As the Premier said, there was a lot of collaboration across both chambers in relation to amendments to the initial bill. The initial bill, we might remember, the government said was right and did not need to be improved. I start by saying, in relation to the six amendments, that the government has picked up three of the coalition’s amendments, and those are, frankly, the substantial amendments to the package that we are considering today. The most notable of them is a level of retrospectivity that will allow IBAC to look at matters that have been previously referred to it that we argued could not be investigated because of the retrospectivity blocking the first draft of the bill included. We said no, it is not okay. We absolutely must see the worst corruption scandal in our state’s history fully examined in every way needed. That is why we called for proper retrospectivity, and the government and the Premier said no. It is only because the Parliament has made it clear that the government got it wrong that we have that amendment before us now.

The other two amendments that the government has picked up from the coalition include the ‘examinations generally to be held in private’ provision, which has seen an overwhelming majority of examinations held in private, an amendment made by former Premier Daniel Andrews. I do not think it takes much to understand why the former Premier, who was subject to investigation, wanted that particular mechanism put in place. That rightly is being amended today. The third amendment of ours being picked up relates directly to a private members bill that we moved in this place, which, sadly, every member of the government opposed, which would have seen a faster tabling of IBAC reports, which should be the case. What we saw with the Operation Richmond investigation was a stain, sadly, and we moved a private members bill because we felt those special reports should be tabled swiftly. That third amendment has been picked up by the government, and I do note that.

The other three that I will mention briefly, which I believe the Greens will speak to, relate to amendments they put forward. The first is publication of the ministerial code of conduct, which is already public, and codifying it. Of course we will not oppose that. It is published. Is the IBAC bill the right place for that codification? Perhaps not, but we will not oppose that. The second amendment they are proposing is a new mechanism for the appointment of a Commissioner. Though we will not oppose it, there is, I think, genuine concern that in a deal the government has done with the Greens a new mechanism of Commissioner appointment has been drafted on the fly to get the government’s bill through the Parliament. It is a concern. We will not oppose it, but we are putting on record that the government drafted that amendment today after a deal done last night. We are talking about the appointment of a Commissioner to IBAC. This is no small thing. Finally, there is the funding of IBAC, a new mechanism of funding, especially in terms of reporting through parliamentary committees. So the bill has six amendments.

The final point I will make relates to the amendment we do not have before us but which was part of a package of amendments moved both here and in the other place, and that relates to public interest immunity. The government has not accepted the need to include a public interest immunity amendment in their package of reforms. Why would they? Because integrity will always be optional under this government. Former Premiers Daniel Andrews and the member for Bendigo East still have their power of cover-up. They still have the right, when IBAC comes knocking on the door, to not answer questions because that privilege still exists.

It should be seen by this Parliament as a mistake – frankly, a craven decision by this government – to not allow IBAC to have the information it may request. If we are elected, we do not feel that this is right and should stand in its current form. I note in the other place, just an hour ago, the government committed to reviewing the issue through a panel. I do not want to be too pessimistic, but I suspect their timeframe for reviewing the privilege power will be after the royal commission ends. I suspect the review would end after the royal commission ends.

We will not be opposing this package of reforms. Of course we will not. I said it at the start and the whole way through. Because the government has picked up on many of our amendments, we certainly will not be opposing it. But we will make the point that when it comes to public interest immunity what the government have done is simply allow themselves the protection that they have had, the protection that they want – the protection they want to leave with former premiers. It is something that we strongly believe in, and should we be fortunate enough to be elected, we will fix.

 Ellen SANDELL (Melbourne) (18:22): I am a little sad that Tim Read could not be here to give this speech. Instead, I will be stepping into his very big shoes, and it is an honour to do so, to finish the work that he started and support these very important, overdue and necessary reforms to Victoria’s anti-corruption watchdog, IBAC. There are not many days in here that feel truly momentous, but I really do feel like this is a really momentous moment. To have achieved some significant reform to our anti-corruption watchdog on the last sitting day of the term is something that I think is going to hold all governments in future to the high standard that the Victorian people deserve and that the Victorian people expect. I think it is a real credit to this Parliament and all the people in this Parliament who supported this bill and these amendments that we have been able to make this historic reform on the last day of the Parliament, one that I think will stand the test of time and ensure that government is for Victorians and puts people first into the future.

It is often said that change in this place happens very, very slowly and then all at once. I wanted to share a proverb that my chief of staff shared with me. He used to work for the New Zealand Greens. There is a proverb in te reo Māori, but I am not going to say it in te reo Māori because I am worried that I will get the pronunciation incorrect. It is hard to translate these things into English, but essentially it means that we take the time shaping the keel of the waka – the boat – to speed its journey. It recognises all the hard work that goes in over years and years and years, often into reform, and then all of a sudden it gets done. Nobody sees, necessarily, the years and years of work that happened – the shaping of the keel beforehand. It seems like the change just happens in the moment, but we know that is not true. We know that this reform has been years in the making.

We know that it was years of work by the Integrity and Oversight Committee. Of course Tim Read chaired the landmark inquiry that formed the recommendations, a lot of which have been lifted up and put into this bill and these amendments today. We also know that the Greens have introduced reforms to IBAC many, many times in this chamber. I find it somewhat interesting that the Liberal Party picked up some of those and introduced their own bills but that only happened in the last year or so. The Greens were introducing these bills and these amendments for many, many years, and they were opposed by not just the Labor government but also the Liberal opposition. It is important to put some of that context and history on the record. But we never gave up, and when the time was right the bill became law.

When stakeholders or community groups come to me with a change that they would like I often say it is part of the Greens’ job and civil society’s job to put good ideas on the shelf – to develop an idea, to work to flesh it out, to build support for it. Then often that idea will sit on the shelf. It will sit on the shelf for a long time. But you never know when the day will come around that there might be a scandal or a crisis or a problem that up-ends things, and then governments often need to solve that problem and they look around for ready-made solutions. They look at what is on the shelf as a ready-made solution, and they take it off and they implement it. Often it is how the Greens get change and how civil society gets change – putting the ideas on the shelf in the first place, ready to be taken off when the moment is right.

We know for this one the moment was when the government faced significant allegations of corruption on the Big Build. It was the Greens who consistently raised IBAC reform as part of the solution – as Tim Read eloquently put it, a standing royal commission at half the price. The Greens took a longer view than just one scandal. We knew that the Big Build was not the first scandal that the Victorian government faced, the first corruption allegations. We also unfortunately know it is unlikely to be the last. We do not just need a royal commission into one matter; we need an anti-corruption watchdog that has the powers that it needs and that it has asked for for years. Finally, with this bill, it will.

I want to share, before I go into the amendments in a bit more detail, another anecdote about Tim Read. I remember a few months ago the Greens were having some discussions about our election platform and what we wanted to be a priority: climate change, housing, cost of living. At the end of those discussions I remember Tim Read just sat back and took it all in, and he said, ‘You know what, let’s just be prepared. Integrity might end up being the biggest issue of this election.’ And boy he was right about that. I am very glad that he was here to see these reforms pass the lower house and know that they were about to become law.

Turning to the amendments that are before us, when the IBAC bill originally passed this house it included follow-the-money powers and, crucially, expanding the jurisdiction of IBAC to expand what kind of corruption it could look into. Previously, as we know, IBAC could only look into indictable offences, a much higher bar than the federal National Anti-Corruption Commission or the Independent Commission Against Corruption in New South Wales. It was this limited jurisdiction that allowed leaders of parties on both sides to refer issues that they were facing to IBAC, whether it was lobster with the mobster or the Big Build, knowing full well that IBAC did not have the power and jurisdiction to look into them and that nothing would ever come of it. No longer will that be able to happen. IBAC will now be able to finally look into breaches of the ministerial code of conduct, offences that might ordinarily result in someone losing their job, misuse of public office – offences that would constitute corruption but perhaps not reach that high bar of an indictable offence. These were very good reforms that were put forward. But there were still a few loopholes, which have been closed with these amendments, and they have now been fixed due to the Greens working with the opposition and with the government.

There were a few amendments that the Greens put up that the Liberals also put up which would have had the numbers to pass the Parliament, so the Labor government had no choice but to adopt them. They have taken a few of them and made them house amendments in the government’s name. They are to allow IBAC to hold public hearings when it is in the public interest, not just in exceptional circumstances, and strengthening the process for IBAC to decide to hold public examinations. We know sunlight is the best disinfectant when it comes to corruption in public office, and as Tim Read said himself, lift the rock and the worms come out.

These amendments will also confirm that IBAC can use its strengthened powers to investigate all relevant past conduct, closing the loophole in the legislation that made it unclear whether this would be allowed, ensuring there is complete clarity over this matter of retrospectivity. Last night we were here quite late in negotiations, but we appreciate working with the government, who have now adopted a number of Greens amendments. The first one provides funding transparency for IBAC so that IBAC can share publicly in its annual report its annual budget submission to government to provide a report on whether its annual budget is sufficient to do the work that it has been tasked to do. We know that governments have systemically underfunded our integrity agencies, whether it is IBAC, the Ombudsman or the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office, and the public will be able to now see when that has happened. The second is to strengthen requirements for the appointment of the IBAC Commissioner and deputy commissioners, including establishing an appointment panel and requiring public advertising of vacant positions. This is to ensure the government of the day cannot just appoint their mates to avoid a jobs-for-mates scandal, or that they cannot just appoint someone they know is not qualified or who will go soft on the government of the day. And the last is to ensure the ministerial code of conduct is made public. If breaches of the code of conduct can now be investigated by IBAC in its expanded jurisdiction, then the public deserves to know, always, what is in this code of conduct and the standards that we are setting for ministers rather than this only being made public if the government of the day feels like it.

I want to thank a few people, especially my Greens colleagues, and especially Sarah Mansfield in the other place, who have continued Tim’s work right to the end, negotiating with the government, working closely with integrity experts and the opposition well into the evening last night to make sure that this bill is as strong as it can be. Victoria will now have much stronger anti-corruption laws due to those actions. There is of course more work to be done, and we are pleased that we have been able to also secure a commitment from the government to an expert review panel, which will include experts from the Centre for Public Integrity and will start its work imminently, by the end of October, and a commitment from the government to make changes that reflect the outstanding recommendations of the IOC, including options for models of how IBAC can access cabinet-in-confidence information.

We recognise the benefits to our democracy of robust cabinet processes. The public service needs to be able to give frank and fearless advice, and cabinet needs to be able to frankly and openly discuss options on the table when making important decisions that affect Victorians. We understand this, but our experience has been that executive privilege, which is related to this provision – that is, cabinet documents requested by the Parliament – has been grossly overused and misused. The National Anti-Corruption Commission has a model that allows it to view cabinet documents with appropriate safeguards. We want to get this right, and that is why I want to thank the opposition for working with us, working through –

Members interjecting.

Ellen SANDELL: Is that a first? Maybe it is a first. I do think it was. I do want to thank the member for Brighton, who brought this to us.

Members interjecting.

Ellen SANDELL: Do I do this so rarely? Maybe I do do this so rarely. I want to thank the member for Brighton for bringing this issue up. We in the Greens feel like it is a very important issue, but after some long discussions and getting legal and expert advice we simply ran out of time to be able to fix that cabinet-in-confidence document of public interest immunity and do that properly, respecting all the safeguards that need to come with it. We are very heartened to have that commitment from the government to an expert review panel to ensure that that will be looked into. The next Parliament will hopefully fix that loophole and that outstanding recommendation from the IOC.

I would also like to thank the stakeholders who have engaged with the Greens over many years on our campaign to reform IBAC, in particular all those at the Centre for Public Integrity who have been a great source of expert advice and have done a power of work that has assisted in getting these reforms to happen. Another person I have to thank is a staff member in my office who used to work for Tim Read, Timothy Burn. Timothy deserves just as much credit for these IBAC reforms as anyone. He has pored over legislation, spent hours and hours working with stakeholders and experts and studiously continued to keep the issue of IBAC reform on the agenda over many years. He has worked many, many hours to get his head around very complex integrity law to support and brief the Greens MPs, and he topped it all off with a very long day of negotiations yesterday. Timothy, you should be very, very proud of your role in making these reforms happen. Tim Read would be very, very proud of you.

It is a great privilege to have been part of a Parliament that has passed these laws, including these Greens amendments. And to anyone watching at home, never, ever let anyone tell you that change cannot happen. It might be slow. There will be infuriating moments. There will be moments you think it is never going to happen, but then a moment comes along when the idea is the right idea at the right time and things happen very quickly. As I said, in Parliament change happens slowly, slowly, slowly and then all at once. I know Tim will be up there somewhere watching down on us, waiting for Hansard to do their quick magic to get the transcript of this debate up to him. And he would be very content that we have finally delivered what he started out when he first entered this place.

Motion agreed to.

The SPEAKER: A message will now be sent to the Legislative Council informing them of the house’s decision.