IBAC Insights (newsletter)

By Linda Timothy, Executive Director of Prevention and Communication

As the corruption risks facing the Victorian public sector evolve, it is critical for IBAC to continually reassess how we can best work with the public sector and the integrity system to address corruption risks and support public sector agencies to build strong capability to prevent corruption and misconduct.

As the anti-corruption body responsible for preventing and exposing public sector corruption and police misconduct in Victoria, IBAC plays a crucial role in Victoria's integrity system. One important role for IBAC is providing information and education about the detrimental effects of corruption and police misconduct, and how to improve public sector policies, systems and practices to prevent it from occurring.

This month, IBAC published its 2021-24 Corruption Prevention Strategy – a strategy which supports a proactive, integrated and intelligence-led approach to corruption prevention in Victoria. Thank you to all our stakeholders for their contribution to the development of this strategy.

The new strategy will focus our efforts on building the capability of public sector agencies and police to prevent corruption and proactively promote integrity within. It is based on the understanding that systems, processes and cultures founded in integrity and ethics provide powerful mechanisms to prevent corruption; and the effective prevention of corruption and misconduct requires public sector agencies to take primary responsibility for their prevention strategies.

The strategy is underpinned by five ways of working (or modes) which reflect IBAC's broad legislative remit and its role in building public sector capability. These modes shape our approach to preventing and exposing corruption and misconduct - understand, inform, engage, expose and collaborate. Each of these modes is associated with a number of priority projects being undertaken as part of the strategy.

The range of projects and initiatives IBAC will implement as part of the strategy includes new prevention and education resources to improve the way we share data and insights. A suite of surveys on perceptions of corruption and police misconduct were also recently conducted with the Victorian public sector, local government, Victoria Police, community and business organisations. IBAC will be publishing the findings soon. We will also be developing new prevention resources in conjunction with other agencies.

IBAC is now implementing our Focus Communities Strategy which aims to ensure we are accessible, accountable and engaged with the community. Wherever possible, we will be translating reports and resources into languages other than English and publishing plain language versions to better reach our diverse communities.

Together we can work to prevent corruption and promote integrity. We will do this by leveraging IBAC's diverse range of insights, tools and capabilities. This will ensure public sector agencies have the information and resources they require to build their corruption resistance and prevention capability.