2026-07-30
The Victorian Greens are putting the new Premier’s claims that integrity “won’t be optional” to the test, putting forward their “Ending Political Corruption” Bill before Parliament in the next sitting week and challenging him to vote for it.
In the Leader of the Victorian Greens Ellen Sandell’s first letter to the new Premier, she challenges Labor’s claims on integrity - saying that “follow-the-dollar” powers alone will be almost meaningless to root out corruption and hold Ministers and government officials accountable without expanding IBAC’s jurisdiction, giving it the ability to hold public hearings and the independent funding it needs.
The Greens have challenged the new Premier to put his vote where his mouth is, saying that the first real test of your Premiership is not what the Premier says at his first press conference. It is how he votes when Parliament returns in two weeks.
Sandell has notified the Premier that next sitting week her party will introduce legislation that will deliver the full suite of reforms that IBAC, integrity experts and former IBAC Commissioners have repeatedly asked for, including:
The power to investigate serious misconduct and “grey corruption”, not just indictable criminal offences
The ability to hold public hearings
As well as the ‘follow-the-dollar powers’ that he’s already agreed to.
The Greens are also challenging the Premier to commit to full and independently-set funding for IBAC to ensure they’re properly resourced to undertake their investigations and aren’t hamstrung by politicised underfunding from the government of the day.
Quotes attributable to the Leader of the Victorian Greens, Ellen Sandell:
“The new Premier has repeatedly voted against giving IBAC the powers it needs to properly investigate corruption. If he actually wants to stop corruption, not just stop the bad headlines, then his Labor government should vote for the Greens anti-corruption Bill.
“The new Premier is attempting to re-write Labor’s decade long legacy of corruption scandals but the real test of his Premiership is not what he says in his first press conference it’s how he votes in Parliament.”