Integrity experts say the terms of reference for the Kourakis royal commission should enable scrutiny of corruption in Victoria’s major projects sector, not just individual wrongdoing. Former IBAC commissioner Robert Redlich and former Ombudsman Deborah Glass have welcomed the commission’s broader scope.
They argue the inquiry should focus on underlying system issues that contribute to misconduct and poor governance, alongside identifying alleged offences by people. The experts’ comments align across multiple outlets, which frame the commission as an opportunity to examine why corruption occurs and how oversight and accountability work in practice.
While the articles largely share the same emphasis on the need to look beyond “crooks,” they reflect different ways of presenting the same support for the commission’s expanded remit. Overall, all sources describe Redlich and Glass as endorsing wider investigative powers for the royal commission into the corruption-plagued major projects area, and they highlight the potential for the inquiry to address deeper institutional weaknesses rather than only outcomes in specific cases.
