Updated May 22, 2026 — 5:42pm,first published 11:53amVictoria’s peak anti-corruption body says the latest attempt to stymie a long-running investigation into dealings between former premier Daniel Andrews and a union boss shows it needs greater powers to do its job.Two mystery parties who cannot be identified for legal reasons have launched Supreme Court action to stop the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission publishing a report into corruption allegations centred on 10-year-old dealings between Andrews and United Firefighters Union national secretary Peter Marshall.Former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews and United Firefighters Union boss Peter Marshall. Operation Richmond centred on dealings between the Andrews government and the union.Marija ErcegovacAlthough the case has been listed for a “rapid hearing” at the end of next month, it forced IBAC to shelve its unpublished report into Operation Richmond, an anti-corruption probe in which both Andrews and Marshall were privately questioned about their conduct.IBAC Commissioner Victoria Elliott – the third commissioner to have carriage of the Richmond investigation – said her agency’s powers needed to be boosted to enable it to hold more public hearings.If these powers had been in place when Operation Richmond began, both Andrews and Marshall would have been questioned in open hearings and their sworn testimony widely reported.“As a general principle of public integrity, Victorians deserve to know more about IBAC’s efforts to expose and prevent corruption and police misconduct – and we want to tell you,” Elliott said in a statement released on Friday.“But to do that, IBAC’s legislation needs to change, as it currently limits our ability to share what we believe to be in the public interest.“Victorians want – and should have – greater insight into what is being done to address allegations of corruption and misconduct.”Under the current laws, IBAC must demonstrate “exceptional circumstances” to hold public hearings and clear significant legal hurdles to publish its findings.A preliminary Supreme Court hearing into the fresh legal challenge was told on Friday that IBAC’s entire report into Operation Richmond was provided to one of the unnamed plaintiffs on Thursday. This was done to satisfy the agency’s requirement to provide natural justice to anyone subject to adverse findings.The latest twist in Operation Richmond has elevated Victoria’s anti-corruption framework, which is substantially weaker than that in force in NSW, to a state election issue. Shadow attorney-general James Newbury said a Coalition government would give IBAC greater powers if elected.“Corruption is growing in Victoria, and the Coalition will stamp it out,” Newbury told The Age.“The Coalition will provide IBAC with follow-the-money powers, we will stop hearings from being held almost solely behind closed doors, and we commit to doing whatever it takes to publicly release the Operation Richmond corruption report.”It was unclear after Friday’s hearing before Justice Claire Harris whether the Operation Richmond report will be published before the November 28 election.Lawyers for the unidentified plaintiffs failed in an application to permanently conceal their identities – the application was opposed by IBAC and media companies including The Age – but immediately flagged an appeal.Whatever the outcome of the “rapid hearing” into the substantive issues raised in the case, the plaintiffs will have further appeal rights.The lawyers behind this latest legal manoeuvre – Slater and Gordon head of industrial and employment law Geoff Borenstein and senior counsel Nicholas Wood, SC – are the same team who took IBAC to the High Court three years ago on a previous challenge against Operation Richmond.The United Firefighters Union was one of the plaintiffs in that case.IBAC was poised to publish its final report into Operation Richmond on Monday before the latest legal challenge was launched.Legal counsel for IBAC Frances Gordon, KC, on Friday gave an undertaking to Harris that the anti-corruption agency would not publish the report, or provide any further advance copies of it to other parties, before the court dealt with the legal challenge.“I think there is a real public interest in this moving very quickly,” the judge said.The court on Friday took a series of extraordinary steps to preserve the anonymity of the mystery litigants. The case was filed as “Restricted v Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission”, the court file concealed from public view and part of Friday’s hearing held behind closed doors.A lawyer representing The Age and other media groups, Justin Quill from Thompsons, was refused permission to remain in court while the identity of the plaintiff was discussed.“It is hard to imagine a matter in this court that has a greater public interest,” Quill told the judge. “This court is being asked to restrict the flow of information to our parliament. That is an extraordinary thing that your honour is being asked to do.“The public has an enormous interest in understanding the reasons why … and what is going on.”This masthead has previously reported that in December 2021, Andrews was privately examined by IBAC in relation to Operation Richmond and three other IBAC investigations.Four-and-a-half years later, Victorians have been provided no details of what their state’s most senior politician told IBAC in relation to his dealings with a powerful union leader.Final reports into the other matters – operations Daintree, Sandon and Watts – have all been published. None contained findings of corrupt conduct against Andrews.Andrews in 2022 refused to confirm whether he had been examined by IBAC. “If you want to know what IBAC has done or hasn’t done, who they’ve done it with, then you should go and talk to them,” he told reporters.The Operation Richmond investigation centred on a contentious enterprise agreement struck between the United Firefighters Union and the Andrews government in 2016.In the lead-up to the 2014 state election, which returned Labor to power, firefighters acting on the instructions of the union campaigned for Labor at marginal seat polling booths.Then-emergency services minister Jane Garrett, who died in 2022, was responsible for negotiating the EBA with Marshall, the union’s long-serving national secretary. She quit her post in protest after Andrews intervened in negotiations and struck a deal with Marshall that gave the union unprecedented influence over the operations of the Country Fire Authority.Operation Richmond began in 2019 under former IBAC commissioner Robert Redlich and was largely complete when he left office in 2022. The investigation continued under acting commissioner Stephen Farrow and is now being overseen by Elliott, who took over the agency in 2023.Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.From our partners