Victorian Government Sets up New Integrity Commission

The lower house of Parliament in Melbourne, Australia, on April 23, 2020. Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

The Victorian Labor government plans to set up a parliamentary integrity commission that will examine political misconduct.

Australia’s second-largest state by population will introduce the legislation into Parliament next year following public consultation.

If it goes ahead, the commission will investigate allegations of misconduct by MPs, ministers, and parliamentary secretaries.

The government said the bill would “promote confidence in Victoria’s parliamentary standards and integrity system” by independently overseeing the conduct of MPs and ministers.

Parliamentary Behavior to Be Scrutinised

As part of the proposal, there would be arrangements on “inappropriate parliamentary workplace behavior” to bring the parliament in step with workplaces around Victoria.

The proposed Parliamentary Integrity Commission Bill includes recommendations from the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) and the Victorian Ombudsman, which also entailed the July 2022 report into Operation Watts and a 2021 review of parliamentary workplace cultures.

The government said consultation would be the “significant next step” to set up the new integrity framework.

“We’re holding a thorough consultation process to ensure we achieve the highest standards of conduct and integrity of MPs in all aspects of their work for Victorians,” said Victorian Premier Jacinta Allen.

Attorney General Jaclyn Symes added: “Victorians deserve to have confidence in the political parties and public institutions that serve them—that’s why the government has been working hard to implement every one of Operation Watt’s recommendations.”

The Liberal Party Opposition wants to see past issues investigated, as well as political staffers.

“We’ve seen the government and Labor party MPs using and abusing taxpayer resources for party political ends,” Opposition Shadow Attorney General Michael O'Brien said on ABC Radio.

“It has to end, it has to stop and I don’t think it’s going to stop unless there are real consequences at the end of the day but so far we haven’t seen any of those.

“I think it’s important that this sort of process deals with real breaches of parliamentary ethics and parliamentary codes of conduct.”