2026-06-29
The Victorian Greens are calling on the Allan Government to immediately strengthen Victoria's anti-corruption laws, saying there is no excuse to delay reform until after the election.
It follows new reports that companies working on Big Build projects continued making payments to alleged underworld figures despite repeated warnings to the government.
The Greens said the allegations expose the gap between Labor's claims of having "zero tolerance" for corruption and its refusal to give IBAC the powers it needs to properly investigate where taxpayer money is going.
Earlier this month, Labor responded to the Integrity Oversight Committee (IOC) report, gave an “in principle” commitment to review IBAC’s powers in 2027.
The Greens say there is “no excuse” for delaying these reforms and are calling for Parliament to urgently strengthen IBAC by expanding its unworkable definition of corruption and giving the watchdog explicit powers to follow public money through government contracts and subcontracting arrangements.
The Greens say that the scale of these allegations are astonishing, and support a Royal Commission is what it takes to fully investigate but what will actually stop the ongoing corruption is fixing the laws to give IBAC the power to be a standing Royal Commission.
The Greens said Victorians cannot afford another review while billions in public money has already been lost and corruption is ongoing.
Quotes attributable to the Leader of the Victorian Greens, Ellen Sandell:
“Labor has spent more energy protecting itself from this scandal than protecting Victorians from the corruption that caused it.”
"Victorians are sick of watching Labor care more about saving their own political scalps than actually fixing the problem.”
"If Jacinta Allan’s Labor Government really had zero tolerance for corruption, they would strengthen IBAC today instead of promising another review after the election."
"People are being told to tighten their belts while billions of dollars have reportedly been lost to corruption."
"Every day Labor delays fixing these laws is another day corruption can continue."
Quotes attributable to the Victorian Greens integrity spokesperson, Dr Tim Read:
"The reason this scandal has been able to continue is that Victoria's anti-corruption laws are too weak."
"The fact IBAC doesn’t have the powers to properly follow public money through government contracts and subcontracting arrangements, and Victoria’s narrow definition of corruption goes to the heart of how billions of taxpayer money has been lost to corruption on government sites and how it can still be happening right now.”
“Fixing this is the matter of changing a few words in the legislation. The Premier says she has zero tolerance for corruption. Well if that were true, there's no excuse for waiting until 2027 to even review these laws. Pass them now."
“A Royal Commission would get to the bottom of it all, but Victoria needs a standing Royal Commission with ongoing powers to go after corruption. That’s what IBAC would become if we give it the powers it needs.”