‘Soft corruption’: departing IBAC commissioner Robert Redlich sounds warning

Trust in government is plummeting and there has been no attempt to ‘arrest the slide’ over decades of concentrating power, Robert Redlich says.

IBAC Commissioner Robert Redlich. Picture: AAP

Trust in government is plummeting and the Scott Morrison secret ministry “saga” demonstrated how the public service is failing to give fearless and frank advice, the outgoing commissioner of Victoria’s anti-corruption watchdog says.

Robert Redlich did not make any direct comments about Victoria’s Premier Daniel Andrews or opposition leader Matthew Guy, but shared broader reflections about integrity to a number of public sector employees via a webinar on integrity on Tuesday, just four days out from the state election.

“Nationwide … there is less trust in government now than there has been for a very long time. I have been saying for some time that the explanation of that really lies in the redistribution of power within executive government,” he said.

“By that I mean that we look at the common phenomenon of concentration of power around leaders. We look at the increasing sphere of influence (of) ministerial advisers.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

“We look at the diminution in the responsibility of individual ministers in discharging their functions and finally we look at the decreased role which the public service now plays in providing policy advice … and on the reticence to give frank and fearless independent advice.”

Mr Redlich said the power distribution of power has been shifting for about four decades and there has been no attempt at a federal or state level to “arrest that slide”.

“Until that happens we will see a continuing increase, I fear, in soft corruption,” he said.

Victoria’s integrity agencies held the panel to canvas “integrity, and why it matters” before Mr Redlich is set to conclude his term on December 31. He was joined by ombudsman Deborah Glass and Victorian Auditor General Andrew Greaves.

While the government and public sector are in caretaker mode, the panel’s host noted the talk was not held because the election is due to take place in a matter of days but rather to make sure Mr Redlich could participate before he departs IBAC.

Integrity issues have plagued both Labor and Liberal party campaigns in the lead up to the state poll on November 26.

Mr Andrews has been touched by four anti-corruption investigations, and Mr Guy has been referred to IBAC over a donation scandal.

Mr Redlich cited Mr Morrison’s decision to secretly appoint himself to five ministries during the pandemic as one reason why public trust is eroding in public institutions and specifically cited it as an example of public servants failing in their duty to advise the government.

“A good example of that is in the saga that arose in relation to the former prime minister in relation to his decision to confer on himself a number of ministerial portfolios,” he said.

“(It) highlights a number of those pillars of government all working together to produce an unsatisfactory outcome, namely the concentration of power, failure … and responsibility between the leader and their ministers and the failure of the public service to speak up and say ‘you can’t do that’.”

The Ombudsman Ms Glass has started a probe into claims the public service has been politicised, and is stacked with Labor Party associates.

As well in July a joint report handed down by the Ombudsman and IBAC found the Labor Party and its factions engaged in “unethical behaviour”.