Police are being asked to mark their own homework. No wonder they’re getting good grades

August 7, 2026 — 3:30pm

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This week shocking pictures were published in The Age showing the aftermath of allegedly unchecked police brutality. There were reports of suspects being hog-tied, beaten, and one young man left with brain damage after officers slammed his head against a wall.

You’d think the state’s corruption agency would be having a look at cases like these. In fact, it investigates less than 1 per cent of these reports.

One of new Victorian Premier Ben Carroll’s first commitments is to bolster the powers of the state’s Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission. But there is a glaring omission in this plan. The new government has again ignored calls to also strengthen the commission’s police oversight role.

Many Victorians would be unaware that along with its job of rooting out political and bureaucratic corruption, IBAC is also supposed to be tasked with handling complaints about police criminality and misconduct. This includes violent assaults, human rights breaches, discrimination, stalking, accepting bribes, dealing drugs and driving offences.

But due to a lack of resources and legal constraints, the commission’s police oversight role is treated as little more than an afterthought.

Reporting this week by The Age about the unlawful use of force by police in Gippsland – including chokeholds, Taser use and hog-tying – has again highlighted the failure of both Victoria Police........

© The Age