If Ben Carroll is serious about integrity, this is one issue he can’t squib

September 10, 2026 — 5:20am

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In the handful of sitting days left in the life of this state parliament, there is an opportunity to do something good that should have been done a long time ago.

It is an opportunity made possible by an alignment of political interests as rare as a solar eclipse. Miss it and we won’t see another one for years.

I’m talking about finally giving Victoria’s anti-corruption body, IBAC, the power it needs to do its job.

There is government legislation before parliament that almost gets us there, but not quite.

If passed, it will get rid of one of the great piss-takes of the Baillieu government and scrap the absurdly narrow definition of corrupt conduct that has prevented IBAC since its first day of operation in 2013 from investigating any allegations which fall short of an indictable criminal offence.

Australia’s leading integrity experts shake their heads whenever they are reminded of this straightjacket on IBAC’s work. It is the reason Victoria has the least effective anti-corruption agency of any state.

The government legislation would also give IBAC “follow the dollar” powers to investigate any businesses in receipt of public money. If applied to allegations of corruption across the Big Build, this would bring all those sub-contractors and labour hire companies set up by crooks and bikies into IBAC’s orbit.

These are changes Premier Ben Carroll is committed to making and........

© The Age