Victoria’s anti-corruption commissioner says the integrity agency should be able to search suspected wrongdoers and seize their mobile phones as part of a push for greater powers and a higher caseload.
Commissioner Robert Redlich also hit back at Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s attack on state integrity bodies, saying he was “disturbed” by the current political landscape at both a state and federal level.
IBAC Commissioner Robert Redlich says the cost of a ‘fully funded’ IBAC would be “astronomical”.
“Politicians, whatever their colour, they have to be held to account,” Redlich told ABC Radio on Wednesday. “We all know that it’s part of the human condition that power and authority have the risk of creating corruption.”
In a wide-ranging interview with Virginia Trioli to mark ‘law week’ in Victoria, Redlich also cited a lack of resources as the reason behind the low number of cases examined by the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission.
Redlich said the cost of a “fully budgeted and resourced” IBAC covering all reported incidents would be “astronomical” and was essentially unfeasible. He revealed that the agency investigates about 2 per cent of the matters received that “fit their threshold” due to a fundamental lack of investigators and funding.
“If you simply took over the 10 per cent that [Victoria Police’s internal watchdog] Professional Standards [Command] do now – another 200 investigators – that would triple our present budget in relation to the number of investigators that we need [for police matters only],” he said.
“We all know that it’s part of the human condition that power and authority have the risk of creating corruption.”
Redlich recommended increasing the IBAC’s case capacity to about 4 or 5 per cent, which would provide the body with more Victoria Police oversight.
As well as additional resources, he said the agency required extra powers to both speed up processes and improve outcomes, such as the power to search people of interest.
“Legislative reform is always a slow process, regrettably,” he said. “We have a more prescriptive regime than any other integrity commissioners, and that’s a good thing.
“It creates burdens for us from time to time, but I think it’s a good thing.”
When asked whether Victorians could have faith in the integrity of outcomes when the agency was underfunded, Redlich said “oversight capabilities” allowed IBAC to remain effective.
“If the process being followed within Victoria Police turns out to be inadequate, we can identify that,” he said.
Earlier this month, the integrity agency’s decision to interview Premier Daniel Andrews privately as part of separate investigations into branch stacking within the Labor Party and corrupt land deals in Melbourne’s outer south-east came under fire.
The Victorian opposition, former Labor minister Adem Somyurek and other commentators questioned IBAC’s independence over its decision to interview Andrews in private hearings as part of operations Watts and Sandon.
After repeatedly stating that he was unable to refer to the case directly on Wednesday, Redlich defended the agency’s process by stating that it could never call a witness in public unless it was confident the questioning would not unreasonably impact the person’s reputation.
“I think there’s a profound misunderstanding,” he said. “We’re not like a Royal Commission.”
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