Damning IBAC report finds ‘significant erosion’ of ministerial accountability in Victoria

The anti-corruption watchdog has found Andrews government ministers, advisers and senior public servants improperly favoured union mates, but fell short of corruption, when it awarded a health contract ahead of the 2018 election.

There was no competitive process when staff in the Health Minister’s office and the Premier’s Private Office pressured health department officials to award a $1.2 million dollar contract to the union-aligned Health Education Federation to train hospital staff to deal with violence against health workers.

Acting Commissioner of the Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission (IBAC), Stephen Farrow, says there was misconduct, and the contract “wasn’t sufficiently entered into in the public interest”.

Press PLAY below to hear Neil Mitchell questioning the acting IBAC commissioner

“In fact, the training that was provided was inadequate,” he told Neil Mitchell.

In the damning report, IBAC says there’s been “significant erosion” of ministerial accountability.

While the IBAC report does clear the Premier, former health ministers and their staff of corruption, the commissioner warned the Premier is accountable to parliament for the conduct of his staff.

Neil Mitchell: ‘Obscenely indecent’ hypocrisy unveiled in IBAC’s scathing report

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