23 October 2026
Integrity is required by both those who seek our vote and those who are involved in or influence their campaigns.
The ballot box is where voters pass judgement on those who govern them. It’s slow and clunky, but it’s democracy. This form of accountability for past events, and hopes for the future, often reflected by popular opinion at the ballot box, does not equate with or ensure integrity. Following elections, it is our Parliament, its laws and its integrity institutions that are intended to provide oversight of decision making by executive government and those who have been voted into office.But when these mechanisms are weak or fail in their roles, populist opinion and hidden influence fills the gap.
In 2022 IBAC warned that donations and lobbying can be used to gain privileged access to decision-makers, creating a corruption risk. From Big Build tunnels to AI data centres, major decisions are locked in before voters have their say, and too often there are integrity gaps in the decision making process.
Anyone can seek to be elected and oppose those in office. But will they accept the scrutiny and personal integrity standards they demand of others. Similarly those who seek to influence public decisions should accept that scrutiny of their conduct is part of the deal. Voters deserve to know who is funding campaigns and who is shaping policy and decisions. Yet donations can be spread across linked companies, and party subscriptions and affiliation fees, which may cover business forum memberships, are not counted as donations at all
Lobbying is not adequately governed by law. Victoria relies on a code that leaves in-house lobbyists off the register. Ministers’ meetings should not only be visible when they happen, yet diaries appear only quarterly and exclude social events. Even then they do not reveal the subject of or content of the lobbying. Communities should not only be able to challenge the merit of decisions that affect them but also the process that led to that decision. The decision to undertake major projects should rest on proper consultation, sound business case analysis and an integrated plan, not election promises. Fast-tracked planning that cannot be appealed to VCAT does not assist advance accountability.
ART’s position is clear: Voters should know the process that was followed in making decisions, and who has influenced that decision or campaign policy before they vote, not after. Disclosure should be fulsome and timely. The obligations of disclosure should be the same for everyone, and the influences visible when the decisions are made, not years later.
The Accountability Round Table calls on all political parties to prioritise the introduction of legislation within the first six months following the forming government after the November 2026 election requiring full disclosure of lobbying activity and donations so that Victoria’s hidden web of influencers do not remain concealed.
WHAT’S HAPPENED THIS MONTH: Wins and progress.
IBAC’s new powers are now law
This month ART’s long campaign paid off. For more than a decade we argued that Victoria needed a Royal Commission and an IBAC with real power to follow the money and investigate grey corruption. ART had made detailed written and oral submissions to the Integrity Oversight Parliamentary Committee concerning the need for expansion of IBAC’s powers.
Ultimately the Government accepted those recommendations reflected in the amendments to the IBAC Act on October 2nd . By then it had also acted on the submission that a Royal Commission should be established.The IBAC Amendment Act 2026 is the first major reform of the IBAC Act since the Commission was established. Parliament passed it on 24 September, its last sitting day before the election. This is a win for ART’s advocacy. IBAC writing to ART Chair, Robert Redlich acknowledged his contribution through perseverance and strong advocacy during his time as Commissioner of IBAC, and in the years that have followed.
This was instrumental in driving these reforms. IBAC now has powers that Victorians expect will enable public sector corruption to be effectively exposed. IBAC is committed to utilising its expanded powers in a way that will enhance trust in IBAC and in the integrity of Victoria’s public sector.
The Royal Commission into major infrastructure projects, which Robert, as ART chair and the former Ombudsman Deborah Glass identified as a pressing step toward bringing integrity to theBig Build, integrity, now led by Commissioner Kourakis has been given broad terms of reference and is supported by eminent senior counsel who will drive the investigation into corruption in the Big Build.
ART’ supported by a number of Community Groups with expertise in planning and transport and planning consultants has also sought to ensure that the Commission’s term of reference with respect to executive government’s “governance” of major projects, will explore the initial decisions to undertake those projects and the extent to which there was an absence of proper consultation with public institutions that had a role to play in such projects, a less than adequate business case analysis of the projects potential, and a lack of integrated plan involving transport, land usage and infrastructure required by legislation.
The Commission is encouraged to explore how the absence of these necessary steps contributed to a corrupt environment on those projects.