The former head of Victoria’s anti-corruption watchdog could re-appear before a revamped integrity and oversight committee after making extraordinary claims against the Andrews government, the committee’s chair, Tim Read, has suggested.
The Greens MP said he would be “surprised if issues didn’t come up” that required Robert Redlich to give evidence to the powerful committee after he claimed government MPs had told consultants to “dig up dirt” on the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (Ibac).
Read’s comments come after Daniel Andrews’ government last week reached a deal with the Greens and Legalise Cannabis party to relinquish its majority on the committee, which oversees the state’s integrity agencies, in return for the crossbench MPs blocking an opposition push for a fresh investigation into Redlich’s claims.
The claims were contained in a letter sent to parliament’s presiding officers in December, during the final weeks of his five-year tenure.
Redlich claimed that government MPs had instructed independent consultants to “dig up dirt” on the Ibac in an act of retaliation for its inquiries into the Andrews government. In the letter Redlich reignited his calls for the integrity committee to no longer be chaired by a government MP or have a Labor majority to prevent potential government influence.
Read, who was elected chair of the committee last week, described Redlich’s allegations as “unprecedented”.
“I would be surprised if issues didn’t come up that would require his [Redlich’s] input,” he said on Wednesday.
Last year the opposition accused then committee chair, Harriet Shing, of gagging Victoria’s corruption agencies after she ordered administrators to “cut the feed” during a hearing when Redlich, who was appearing as a witness, was asked about Andrews’ being grilled by the Ibac.
Asked about the incident, Read said: “I can’t imagine myself doing that.”
“The hearing is either public or it’s not,” he said.
Shing had argued the committee’s remit did not include individual matters or specific investigations.
The research director at the Centre for Public Integrity, Catherine Williams, said investigating Redlich’s claims should be a priority for the new committee. But she said the centre’s top priority was removing the requirement that Ibac can only investigate conduct that constitutes a criminal offence.
Read has also renewed the Greens’ calls for broadening Ibac’s powers and removing the “exceptional circumstances” threshold for public hearings.
“New South Wales’s [Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac)] and other bodies are able to initiate inquiries when they suspect corruption,” Read said. “They’re not saddled with the burden of having to suspect a criminal offence.
“Victoria’s Ibac could not investigate the allegations into Gladys Berejiklian that ultimately led to her resignation, while the NSW Icac can.”
Berejiklian resigned as premier in 2021 after Icac revealed it was investigating whether she broke the law by failing to report her former partner’s alleged conduct.
Berejiklian has repeatedly denied any alleged wrongdoing, including during her questioning at a fresh set of hearings in October 2021. Icac has yet to release its findings in that matter.
Legalise Cannabis MP Rachel Payne, who was elected to the committee last week to recalibrate its makeup, said the reform of the committee was “important in the name of transparency”.
A spokesperson for the Victorian government said the makeup of the committee was “a matter for parliament”.
The shadow attorney general, Michael O’Brien, said Redlich’s allegations could not be “swept under the carpet”.
“The idea that government MPs would be ‘digging for dirt’ on Ibac as payback for investigations into the Labor government is outrageous,” he said.
O’Brien urged the committee to invite the auditors referenced in Redlich’s letter to give evidence in front of the committee. Read said he would not object to this.
