Source : the age
One of Victoria’s essential integrity agencies is being decimated by secret budget cuts, prompting transparency experts to call for new Premier Ben Carroll to intervene and protect people’s access to information held by government.
The Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner (OVIC), the agency that administers freedom of information and privacy laws, is being forced to reduce its expenditure by nearly 10 per cent, which will result in one in 10 staff being shown the door.
The cut is part of a broader funding squeeze across the Department of Justice, which, according to the state government’s most recently published financial statements, must spend $194 million less this financial year than it did last year to meet budget.
The hidden cuts to OVIC, confirmed by unpublished budget figures provided to this masthead, challenge Carroll’s promise upon taking the Labor leadership that within his government “integrity is non-negotiable”.
It is expected to aggravate an already large backlog of freedom of information complaints and lead to a further blowout in waiting times.
The agency last year cleared 873 of the 1135 freedom of information complaints it received, but as of June 30, 2026, still had 570 complaints on its books. The average time to finalise a complaint is now 129 days – up nearly a month since 2023-24.
The agency’s budget for this financial year is $7.7 million – a 9.3 per cent cut from what it spent in 2025-26 and down 24 per cent since 2022-23. Over four years, OVIC’s headcount has shrunk from 55 people to 42, despite the number of FOI complaints they handle nearly doubling.
“You cannot make integrity non-negotiable while leaving the watchdogs that safeguard it vulnerable to government budget decisions,” said Professor Gabrielle Appleby, research director for the Centre for Public Integrity.
“The test of an integrity agenda is not in promises – it is whether governments are prepared to properly resource institutions capable of holding them to account.”
While all integrity agencies in Victoria have pushed for greater funding and for their budgets to be set by parliament rather than the government of the day, OVIC is particularly vulnerable to any funding squeeze.
Unlike IBAC, the Ombudsman and the Auditor-General, standalone agencies that report directly to Special Minister of State Ingrid Stitt, OVIC is housed within the Department of Justice and its budget is overseen by the departmental secretary.
The parliament’s integrity and oversight committee (IOC), in a report tabled on Thursday, renewed its call for this to change and for OVIC to be funded in the same way as other integrity agencies.
“The committee remains concerned that eroding OVIC’s funding over time will affect OVIC’s ability to fulfil its legislated remit and perform at an optimal level,” the report warned.
“The committee considers it imperative that OVIC is adequately funded to perform its functions, and to maintain up‑to‑date service delivery for the Victorian community.”
Victorian Information Commissioner Sean Morrison backed the proposed change.
“As one of Victoria’s key integrity agencies, OVIC supports the recent integrity and oversight committee’s recommendation that the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner is funded through parliament’s appropriation, similar to the funding arrangements for the Independent Broad‑based Anti‑corruption Commission, Integrity Oversight Victoria and the Victorian Ombudsman,” Morrison said.
OVIC’s own figures, provided to this masthead, show that at the same time its funding is being reduced, its case load is surging. The number of freedom of information complaints received by the agency in 2025-26 jumped by 35 per cent from the previous financial year. The agency has also recorded a significant increase in privacy complaints.
IOC chair Tim Read, a Greens MP, said he had been made aware that OVIC was “struggling to function” within its budget.
“It is vital that OVIC be funded as the integrity agency that it is, and that it is not subject to cuts that interfere with its ability to administer the Freedom of Information Act, which is important for transparency in this state,” he said.
Shadow attorney-general James Newbury said the OVIC funding cut exposed as empty Carroll’s first day pledge to make integrity a cornerstone of his government.
“He promised he had integrity but continues Labor’s campaign of undermining our key integrity agencies, like the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner,” Newbury said.
“The tightening of the screws of the office responsible for ensuring transparent government only proves the Carroll government is just the same as Andrews and Allan before him.”
Stitt did not respond to questions on the funding cut.
“Integrity is not negotiable in Victoria, and OVIC is pivotal in upholding this standard,” a government spokesperson said.
“We expect all public sector bodies, including integrity agencies, to manage their budgets and ensure public money is spent efficiently and effectively.”
Changes made last year to Victoria’s Financial Management Act created a statutory expectation on all government departments and agencies to operate within budget. This has put additional pressure on the state’s cash-strapped integrity agencies.
IBAC chief executive Alison Byrne and Ombudsman Marlo Baragwanath told this masthead earlier this year their current budget allocations would not cover their operating costs and force them to shelve some investigations.
State government agencies receive more than 48,000 requests for information annually, which can include Victorians’ medical, police or TAC records, with less than 80 per cent of decisions made on time. Part of OVIC’s scope includes handling complaints about rejected or redacted applications.
Transparency International Australia chief executive Clancy Moore said the funding cuts to OVIC would reduce government accountability and weaken the health of democratic institutions.
“When an integrity agency faces funding cuts, it can silence those that are meant to speak out,” Moore said. “New Premier Ben Carroll has made integrity his number-one priority. His government should make the agency an independent statutory authority like IBAC and remove it from under the control of the department.”
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Chip Le Grand leads our state politics reporting team. He previously served as the paper’s chief reporter and is a journalist of 30 years’ experience.Connect via email.
