Victoria is to formalise the role of the existing Parliamentary Integrity Adviser and create a new Parliamentary Ethics Committee to examine the conduct of Members of Parliament, including bullying, harassment, sexual harassment and victimisation.
This year’s state budget earmarked $11.9 million (US$7.9 million) to support the establishment and operations of the Commission.
The Parliamentary Workplace Standards and Integrity Bill, introduced today into the Victorian Parliament, also provides a process for receiving and investigating allegations of misconduct.
It will not, however, give the Commission oversight of the publicly-funded staff of MPs and ministers, such as electorate officers, parliamentary advisers, or ministerial staff, who the government says are accountable to their respective employers.
Its power will be strictly limited to investigating allegations of inappropriate parliamentary workplace behaviour, and its ambit will include reports about the misuse of work-related parliamentary allowances, and breaches of the requirements of the MP Register of Interests.
A resignation by a member under investigation won’t end the Commission’s process, and people will be able to make complaints anonymously.
Limited to Events the Happened After It Was Formed
However, it will not be able to investigate historical complaints, only incidents that occurred after it was established, and it does not have jurisdiction over anything covered by Parliamentary privilege.The three-member committee will serve a maximum five-year term, and the Parliament’s Integrity and Oversight Committee will have veto power over proposed appointees.
People who have recently been MPs or members of a political party will be ineligible. The committee will not be controlled by a minister, and Commissioners will be designated as independent officers of Parliament.
Premier Jacinta Allan called the legislation “the most significant overhaul of parliamentary oversight in the country.”
“Everyone deserves the right to feel safe and respected at their workplace—it is simply not negotiable.”
Dispute Resolution an Option for Less Serious Matters
The new Commission will also support the Parliamentary Integrity Adviser, by providing training to MPs and ministers on integrity matters, supporting the new Parliamentary Ethics Committee and issuing guidance about the process for making complaints.It will be able to use dispute resolution to settle a misconduct complaint only for “lower-level misconduct” and can refer its findings to other bodies, such as Victoria Police, if it considers that course to be appropriate.
The Bill results from the Victorian Government’s acceptance of all 21 recommendations of the Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission (IBAC) and Victorian Ombudsman’s Operation Watts special report in July 2022, as well as the 2021 review of the parliamentary workplace commissioned by Parliament’s Presiding Officers.
Operation Watts was the first-ever joint investigation by IBAC and the Victorian Ombudsman.
It was initiated following two referrals, one from the attorney-general to IBAC, and the other from the Legislative Council to the Ombudsman, following allegations of “branch stacking” involving misuse of public funds by certain Labor MPs.
The introduction of the Bill was delayed after the Labor party was forced to investigate allegations of “persistent” inappropriate behaviour by parliamentary secretary Darren Cheeseman, who was stripped of his role as Parliamentary Secretary for Education in late April.
