Wednesday, 4 March 2026

 Ryan BATCHELOR (Southern Metropolitan) (17:16): We have spent a lot of time today talking about IBAC and things that have happened during the week at the Integrity and Oversight Committee. I do not think we can let the week pass without mentioning the most significant thing that happened at that committee hearing, which was the IBAC Commissioner publicly apologising for IBAC’s conduct in complaints about police handling of police-perpetrated family violence made by a courageous victim-survivor. The apology relates to the report of the then Victorian Inspectorate in the handling of Emma’s case, which was tabled after the Legislative Council rose during the last Parliament. So I seek to speak to that document and also the report of the Integrity and Oversight Committee on the performance of integrity agencies in 2022–23, which also covered these matters.

For an agency as powerful as IBAC to admit that they got something wrong and for the commissioner to use such clear language as ‘the hurt and trauma caused’ is remarkable. One of the senior lawyers involved described the apology as being ‘as rare as hen’s teeth’. The apology was made to Dr Jana Katerinskaja, who is one of the most courageous women I have ever met. She is Emma, the subject of the Victorian Inspectorate’s report in 2022, under conditions which were so serious for her, her safety at such risk that a pseudonym was used. She bravely outed herself as Emma to the Integrity and Oversight Committee at our public hearings in 2024.

The inspectorate’s report in 2022 was very critical of IBAC’s handling of complaints. IBAC’s 27-page response at the time, IBAC now concedes, was inappropriate and insensitive, and in that finding, in that report and in the response to that report, which was tabled in this Parliament, IBAC now concede that they made multiple, inaccurate, inappropriate or misleading assertions about their interactions over the course of this inquiry with Dr Katerinskaja. IBAC’s apology states that:

There were other flaws in our response to the Emma report, not least:

•   failing to take account of the welfare of Dr Katerinskaja and their family;

•   questioning the Inspectorate’s agenda and urgency when Dr Katerinskaja’s wellbeing was central to its approach; and

•   focusing on our resource constraints, rather than reflecting on prioritising the available resources.

In a separate document that was sent to Dr Katerinskaja that the ABC reported on on Monday, the ABC report says:

In a separate email to Dr Katerinskaja, IBAC recognised she had approached the commission with the expectation that she could safely make complaints and IBAC would assist.

This is a quote from IBAC:

“Not only did this not occur, but our approach left you feeling attacked, trampled, gaslighted and silenced by us,” it said. “We deeply regret the lack of insight and compassion we showed, and we apologise for the impact this has had on you and your family.”

This is a very extraordinary admission by IBAC that they got this so wrong. I think it takes a lot of courage for an IBAC Commissioner to admit that their predecessors in the organisation made such serious and significant mistakes, and I think there is a lot of credit that needs to go to the current leadership of IBAC for the way that they have undertaken this restorative justice process with Dr Katerinskaja, who suffered physical violence as a result of information about her case being leaked from Victoria Police to her perpetrator, a serving police officer. I think there is also some accountability that needs to occur by those who were leading IBAC at the time. I think that the former IBAC Commissioner should make a statement about this apology and about the response – which has been so comprehensively criticised by the current IBAC Commissioner – that bore his signature. I know that Mr Redlich is not shy about giving comment to the media on a range of issues. I think, given the significance and the unprecedented nature of the apology from IBAC this week based on actions that occurred under Mr Redlich’s watch, he should give some sort of explanation or make some sort of statement about these matters to see whether he too echoes the apology that was so deservedly granted to Dr Katerinskaja this week.