By Marlo Baragwanath, IBAC CEO
At IBAC we continually strive towards making a greater impact for all Victorians and are pleased to announce the development of a new four-year plan which sets a framework for the work we focus on and achieve from now until 2025.
Since IBAC became fully operational in 2013, we have matured as an organisation and our momentum has increased. Now, our planning must evolve, so we can make strategic and intelligence-informed decisions.
Over recent years there have been key changes to Victoria's policy and service delivery landscape, including the reform of Victoria's mental health system, the establishment of the Yoo-rrook Justice Commission to investigate historical and ongoing injustices of Aboriginal Victorians, and enormous investments in transport and social infrastructure. There are also significant changes being made within Victoria's integrity and oversight system, with the implementation of recommendations from the Royal Commission into the Management of Police Informants, and a recently announced Government review into Victoria's police oversight system.
After a comprehensive process of consultation and engagement with key stakeholders and IBAC employees, The IBAC Plan 2021-25 documents our strategy to improve how we identify, expose and prevent public sector corrupt conduct and police misconduct. Set out in four strategic pillars we will work to:
- educate and build the capability of the public sector to actively resist corrupt conduct
- ensure our independent police oversight activities are targeted and transparent, and better meet the needs of Victoria’s diverse and vulnerable communities
- foster a connected, inclusive, and flexible organisation where all employees are encouraged to be, and do, their best
- collaborate with the public sector, Victoria Police and other integrity and oversight bodies to share insights, learn from each other and deliver shared outcomes.
The four-year IBAC plan will ensure a consistent and structured approach to investigating public sector corruption and police misconduct, a better complainant experience designed to meet the needs of our diverse community, and the data and evidence to form future insights for our work's focus.
Annual Plan
Building off The IBAC Plan and providing the organisation with targeted, 'of the moment' focus areas, will be our Annual Plan, outlining the organisation's strategic priorities and strategic focus areas, in addition to core work for the year. These focus areas will be informed by our strategic intelligence assessments, complaints and notifications data, operational intelligence and stakeholder consultation. They will be reviewed on an annual basis.
The 2021-22 Annual Plan highlights six strategic areas:
- High-risk police units/divisions/regions and public sector agencies
- Major infrastructure projects
- Undue influence on decision making in the public sector
- Police use of force on people at risk
- Police responses to police family violence incidents
The Annual Plan also incorporates the vision, guiding principles and strategic pillars identified in the IBAC Plan 2021-25 and provides a budget overview for implementing the actions linked to the strategic focus areas.
Combined, both The IBAC Plan and our Annual Plan are IBAC's roadmap to ensure we will act in the interests of all communities, use evidence to guide our thinking, and work in collaboration with others to achieve our vision of a public sector and police that acts with integrity for all Victorians.