Parliamentary Integrity Commission Bill

The Victorian Government accepted all 21 recommendations of the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) and Victorian Ombudsman’s Operation Watts special report on 20 July 2022.

About the Parliamentary Integrity Commission Bill 2024

The Victorian Government is developing the Parliamentary Integrity Commission Bill to strengthen public confidence in the public institutions that serve them.

The establishment of a Parliamentary Integrity Commission (PIC) was a key recommendation of Operation Watts.

This Bill takes the next step to establish the new parliamentary integrity framework.

The Bill will acquit seven Operation Watts recommendations and the Government’s additional commitment to allow the PIC to investigate allegations of inappropriate parliamentary workplace behaviour.

This Bill will:

establish the PIC to receive, manage and resolve allegations of misconduct by MPs, ministers and parliamentary secretaries (including the Cabinet Secretary)
establish a Parliamentary Ethics Committee (Ethics Committee) by amending the Parliamentary Committees Act 2003 (PC Act)
amend the Public Interest Disclosures Act 2012 (Vic) (PID Act) to improve the regime for public interest disclosures about MPs
establish the existing Parliamentary Integrity Adviser (PIA) in legislation
amend the Members of Parliament (Standards) Act 1978 (MP Standards Act), including to update the MP Code of Conduct (MP Code)
make other consequential amendments.

Features of the proposed Bill

This Bill:

aims to improve Victoria’s parliamentary standards and integrity regime while also ensuring consistency with Victoria’s existing system of Westminster government
draws on relevant proposals as appropriate, such as a 2021 review of the parliamentary workplace commissioned by the Presiding Officers and supported by a cross-party working group
aims to incorporate features identified in reviews and models in other jurisdictions as appropriate to ensure that it is fit-for-purpose and aligns with best-practice.