Victoria Moves to Broaden Its Corruption Watchdog's Powers Before the 2026 Election

Victorian Premier Ben Carroll says he will introduce legislation to expand the definition of corruption and widen the reach of the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (Ibac) before the state election in November 2026. The government will recall parliament for extra sitting days to pass the Ibac laws and set up a special prosecutor to work alongside a royal commission into Victoria's construction sector. Carroll said the terms of reference for that royal commission were "very close" to being finalised and could be released within days (The Guardian).

At the moment, Ibac can only investigate corruption that amounts to a criminal offence. It cannot make a formal finding of corrupt conduct unless the behaviour crosses that criminal threshold. A reform flagged in parliament would lift the restriction that limits Ibac to investigating only part of a schedule of offences (Parliament of Victoria Hansard). Special Minister of State Ingrid Stitt said her department had also been working on "follow-the-dollar" powers, which would let Ibac track how public money is spent once it reaches private contractors and subcontractors (The Guardian).

Think of it this way: right now Ibac can look at whether a public servant took a bribe, but it struggles to follow the money once it flows out to a private company doing government work. The proposed changes would close that gap.

The push follows a parliamentary inquiry into Victoria's integrity framework, tabled in December 2025, which recommended broadening the threshold to capture "grey corruption" — conduct that is unethical or breaches public trust but may not meet the criminal bar. The inquiry also recommended giving Ibac the power to make and publish formal findings of corrupt conduct. The Victorian government accepted those recommendations in principle (The Guardian).

Former Ibac commissioner Robert Redlich, now chair of the Accountability Round Table, said the changes would bring Ibac's jurisdiction closer to that of the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC). That comparison is telling. ICAC has long operated with a broader definition of corrupt conduct than its Victorian counterpart, and the gap between the two has been a running sore for integrity advocates in Victoria (The Guardian).

The timing is hard to ignore. Ibac released its long-awaited Operation Richmond investigation earlier in August, which probed a secret deal over a union agreement (The Australian; ABC 7.30). Asked whether the conduct identified in Operation Richmond would amount to corruption under an expanded definition, Carroll stopped short of making a commitment (The Australian).

That equivocation is worth noting. A government announcing an expansion of corruption definitions but declining to say whether recent conduct would have been caught by it leaves a fairly obvious question hanging.

The broader context here is a government under sustained integrity pressure moving to tighten the framework it operates within. The dual track of Ibac reform and a construction royal commission, backed by a special prosecutor, is a substantial legislative program to land in the final parliamentary sitting weeks before an election. The "follow-the-dollar" powers in particular would close a gap that has long frustrated investigators: public money flows to private contractors and subcontractors, but Ibac's current jurisdiction stops at the public-sector boundary. Whether the legislation passes before the writs are issued, and in what form, will determine whether these reforms are delivered or become an election commitment instead.

The construction royal commission adds another dimension. Carroll's indication that terms of reference are days away means the commission could be established and operating well before the election, with the special prosecutor running in tandem. That parallel structure is unusual and suggests the government wants to show it is treating the construction sector's integrity issues seriously. The political risk for Labor, which has deep ties to the union movement, is obvious. So is the counter-argument: a government that moves on integrity reform while its own side's conduct is under scrutiny can claim it is acting regardless of political consequence. Whether voters accept that framing is another matter.

What remains unresolved is the substance of the expanded definition itself. The parliamentary inquiry recommended capturing "grey corruption" and breaches of public trust, and the government has accepted those recommendations in principle. But "in principle" is not the same as drafted legislation, and the gap between the two is where integrity reform typically lives or dies. The opposition and crossbench will scrutinise whether the bill goes far enough or whether the criminal-offence threshold remains in some watered-down form. Redlich's assessment that the changes would bring Victoria closer to the NSW model sets a benchmark against which any draft will be measured.