Calls to probe Victorian IBAC after ex-mayor’s death

A Victorian parliamentary committee has been called on to investigate IBAC and the agency that monitors it in the wake of a former mayor’s suicide.

Amanda Stapledon. Picture: Chris Eastman

A Victorian parliamentary committee has been called on to investigate the state’s anti-corruption body and the agency that monitors it in the wake of a former mayor’s suicide.

Friends of Amanda Stapledon – the former Casey mayor who took her life in January days after receiving a draft report from the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission into allegedly corrupt property deals – are demanding state parliament’s integrity and oversight committee launches a review.

They blame IBAC for her suicide and say the Victorian Inspectorate, the agency that monitors the anti-corruption watchdog, also has blood on its hands ­because it ignored warnings that witnesses were in danger.

“A woman is dead. Who is going to hold IBAC and the VI ­accountable for that?” said a friend, who was also a witness in the marathon investigation.

“IBAC has behaved disgracefully and the VI, which is meant to keep watch on it, is complicit. Had it taken an active interest in these matters, it might have saved Amanda’s life.”

The VI took seven months to respond to witness complaints, which included warnings of self-harm, about Operation Sandon. The agency’s responses didn’t specifically address the suicide warnings and concluded that IBAC was acting lawfully in holding public hearings.

One complaint warned the agency there were “two separate witnesses who seriously contemplated suicide and planned suicide arising from the pressure of the IBAC investigations”.

Liberal MP Brad Rowswell, deputy chair of the integrity and oversight committee, said the request for a parliamentary inquiry had merit: “Although I can’t speak on behalf of the committee, if (it) were to receive requests to look into this tragic circumstance, I feel we would be duty bound to seriously consider those requests.”

Committee chair Jill Hennessy, a former Labor attorney-general, did not respond to ­messages.

Under its terms of reference, the committee has the authority to “undertake inquiries into issues related to the work of the agencies and make recommendations for improvements”.

One complainant wrote to the VI last April warning that several witnesses were at risk of suicide but the integrity watchdog didn’t respond until November, blaming Covid restrictions. “I apologise for the delay in writing to you,” VI executive director (legal and integrity) Cathy Cato wrote. “The VI has been significantly affected by government restrictions related to the Covid-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, I acknowledge the time we have taken to communicate this outcome to you has not met our usual standards.”

“Amanda didn’t have to die,” a friend and former council colleague said. “For an integrity agency to take seven months to respond to a complaint that raises genuine concerns about suicide is simply not good enough. In Operation Sandon, IBAC acted as judge, jury and executioner and the VI sat back and watched.”

An Operation Sandon witness who was the subject of public hearings described IBAC’s welfare services as “pathetic” and “cruel”. “It did not work for Amanda Stapledon when she contacted them,” the witness said in an official complaint. “IBAC’s efforts in this regard are analogous to throwing someone off a cliff, and then requesting that they do not hurt themselves on the way down to their inevitable demise.”

Despite taking seven months to respond, within days of Stapledon taking her life the VI had invited one complainant in for an official meeting to discuss their concerns and on Thursday was conducting welfare checks on other witnesses.

If you or someone you know is at risk of suicide, call: Lifeline: 13 11 14 or lifeline.org.au; Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636 or beyondblue.org.au