Victoria’s system of public board appointments undermines the requirements of public trust, the Accountability Round Table said today, responding to reporting revealing that Labor Party members and close allies hold around one in 10 of the state’s 1,800 paid board seats.
Peter Frost, member of the Accountability Round Table, former head of the Office of Public Sector Management and Special Adviser on Public Sector Reform. said the findings confirmed a pattern that integrity experts have warned about for years.
“Public officers, whether elected or appointed, are trustees for the people.”
When board appointments are handed to political allies there is a risk that trust is broken. Victorians have no way of knowing whether the people overseeing their hospitals, their water authorities and their infrastructure are making decisions in the public interest or the party’s interest.
“This is not something unique to the current government but has been going on for years. It is not just a minor governance concern. It creates a risk to the integrity of public institutions” Mr Frost said.
“Is it any wonder Victorians hold their public institutions in such poor regard, when the very rules meant to safeguard merit and integrity in board appointments are unenforceable in any meaningful way”
The investigation reveals that Victoria’s appointment guidelines require all significant board appointments – including every high-level group A and B board – to pass through cabinet, with the Premier’s Private Office consulted on anything deemed important or sensitive. This architecture ensures political oversight of the state’s most consequential public bodies is never surrendered.
“It is a system designed to keep political control over appointments, with no independent check and no meaningful transparency. In that environment, partisan interest can displace the public interest with relative impunity.
Oversight of such appointments by a parliamentary committee is required.
A transparent framework with oversight also protects appointees — it is their integrity that opacity puts at risk.
“Transparency and accountability are not optional features of good government. They are the foundation. Without them, public institutions cannot do their job, and citizens have no basis for trust.”
Executive Officer
The Accountability Round Table
0437 771 493
emma@accountabilityrt.org