Yesterday, Victoria’s Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) released a scathing report on ‘Operation Watts’, which was a joint operation with the state’s Ombudsman.
The report found widespread malfeasance across the Victorian Labor Government involving “the hiring of unqualified people into publicly funded roles; using those roles to support factional work; nepotism; forging signatures; bullying behaviours; and attempts to interfere with government grants”.
Commenting on the report, IBAC Commissioner The Honourable Robert Redlich AM, QC said “the misconduct by parliamentary members in their appointment of staff to pursue factional agendas was deeply concerning”, and that IBAC “saw behaviours and actions on display that are clearly not in alignment with what the community rightfully expects of our decision-makers”, with an “unethical culture… at its heart”.
