IBAC

The visit to the Independent Broad-Based Anti-Corruption Commission (IBAC) is the field trip I have been looking forward to the most. I first came across IBAC in the new Protected Disclosures Act (Vic) which I have been using as part of my analysis for my thesis. For serious cases of corruption, IBAC are now the authority to investigate, taking over the Office of Police Integrity and taking the more serious cases from the Ombudsman. They also investigate protected disclosures, which are cases of whistleblowing that gain protection under the Protected Disclosures Act. This is particularly relevant to my thesis as I am arguing that although this new legislation may provide greater protections to whistleblowers than the previous law (which as Emma stated, had more ‘deflections’ than protections), it is still flawed. It does not protect whistleblowers who disclose information to the media without internal disclosure at least six months beforehand, and does not cover Members of Parliament.

Some of these flaws are also reflected in IBAC. They cannot investigate Members of Parliament, and must require a certain degree of ‘facts’ before initiating an investigation, although as Simon and Emma explained, this may be up to the Commissioner’s discretion. Although, as discussed in class, the high threshold that claims must reach in order to be investigated by IBAC may significantly restrict their caseload, it also seems that the Commissioner has a fair amount of discretion in regards to the direction that IBAC take.

The trip to IBAC allowed me to gain a greater understanding of the Protected Disclosures Act and therefore has been helpful in research for my thesis.