Victoria’s anti-corruption watchdog will seek to expose inappropriate police responses to family violence, as well as probe “predatory behaviour incidents” involving officers, as one of its six key areas of focus over the coming year.
The state’s Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission 2022-23 plan was tabled in parliament on Tuesday morning and lists policing of family violence as a priority area, including matters perpetrated by officers.
“Consistent police responses are critical to ensure integrity and ethical standards, to remove any perceived conflicts of interest and reduce the prevalence of these behaviours by police officers and employees,” Ibac’s plan said.
Last year, Victoria police set up a specialist unit to investigate cases of family violence involving its own employees in an Australian first.
In Queensland, widespread cultural issues affecting police responses to family violence has been the subject of an ongoing independent commission of inquiry.
Ibac will also review “high risk police units, divisions and regions” and the use of force on people at risk, including probing police use of capsicum spray which is the subject of an upcoming class action.
The state’s pipeline of large infrastructure projects will also come under the microscope.
“Major infrastructure projects across state and local government involve significant expenditure which can make them vulnerable to corruption,” the plan said.
Ibac will collaborate with the public service to assess projects and identify corruption risks and mitigation strategies.
The Grattan Institute’s transport and cities program director, Marion Terrill, said there was potential scope for collusion among firms bidding for infrastructure work in market-led proposals. Terrill said collusion undermines a government’s capacity to get infrastructure at the lowest long-term cost for taxpayers.
A Grattan study on mega projects, published last year, found that Victoria had more market-led proposals – where the private sector develops a project and then lobbies the government to invest in it – for mega projects since 2006 compared to the other most populous states, NSW and Queensland.
It also found Victoria was not as transparent as NSW regarding tenders for projects, which increases the opportunities for collusion.
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Transport and infrastructure will be key election issues when Victorians head to the polls in November. The opposition in August vowed to shelve the Andrews government’s proposed Suburban Rail Loop project, turning the election into a referendum on the Andrews government’s flagship infrastructure.
The opposition has vowed to funnel available earmarked funds for the first stage of the train line into the state’s burdened health system. But the government has argued the underground train line – to begin in the state’s south-east – is crucial to create better transport connectivity.
Last month, parliamentary budget office costings revealed the first two stages of the SRL would cost $125bn – more than double the government’s initial estimate for the entire project. The state’s budget in May revealed that the cost of the Andrews government’s major projects – part of its “Big Build” scheme – had blown out by 4% since last year’s budget, costing $5.8bn.
The other two strategic focus areas identified are high-risk public sector agencies and improper influence on public decision-making.