IBAC a ‘safe haven for politicians', warns former commissioner Redlich
Robert Redlich, KC, made the claim in a submission to a parliamentary inquiry looking at the adequacy of the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) framework.
Redlich was IBAC commissioner for five years, until 2023. On Monday, he will give evidence on behalf of both himself and the Accountability Roundtable – a group of lawyers and legal and political advocates – at the inquiry's first hearing.
His submission renewed his call that the watchdog's jurisdiction should be expanded to capture misconduct that doesn't constitute a crime. 'The existing requirement that the conduct must be criminal to be corrupt seriously hinders IBAC from being an effective integrity oversight body,' Redlich wrote.
'Breaches of integrity in public office involves a spectrum of improper conduct, only a small proportion of which can be deemed criminal. The rest – grey corruption – is equally deleterious to the public interest, but it is presently beyond IBAC's reach, unlike other effective integrity commissions.'
This was echoed in submissions from IBAC itself, the Victorian Bar, the Australian Lawyers Alliance, the Law Institute of Victoria, and the Centre for Public Integrity.
The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) submitted that its own effectiveness was largely due to its broader definition of 'corrupt conduct', which does not have to reach the criminal threshold.
ICAC said that, if it had been restrained by IBAC's definition of corruption, it likely would not have been able to investigate former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian and make its findings.
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