About IBAC

You are right to expect public sector employees and police officers to act in your best interests, without being influenced by personal interests, greed or criminal motives. To help maintain your trust in the public sector, IBAC works to prevent and expose the corruption or misconduct that wastes public money and damages lives.

IBAC’s vision is for a public sector that actively resists corruption.

We work towards this by:

  1. receiving complaints and notifications of public sector corruption and misconduct (including police misconduct and misconduct in public office)
  2. investigating and exposing corruption and misconduct, with priority given to serious and systemic matters
  3. informing the public sector, police and the community about the risks and impacts of corruption and misconduct, and ways in which it can be prevented.

Reporting corruption

IBAC receives around 5000 allegations of public sector corruption and misconduct each year. This information is vital in exposing corruption, and also identifying emerging trends and risks across the public sector.

IBAC assesses each complaint carefully, cross-checking the information with our research and other complaints and intelligence holdings. We then decide whether to:

  • refer the complaint to another agency, such as the Victorian Ombudsman, Victoria Police, or the agency the complaint is about. IBAC often reviews the outcomes of these matters, to ensure they have been thoroughly investigated and appropriately dealt with.
  • investigate the complaint ourselves. IBAC may conduct a preliminary inquiry to help inform this decision.
  • take no further action.