Criminals are being employed in Victoria's public service because of poor recruiting and nepotism, the state ombudsman says.
After investigating 60 allegations of misconduct, Ombudsman George Brouwer found repeated examples of public servants putting the public at risk through negligence or abusing their position to obtain a personal benefit.
Many investigations revealed poor recruiting practices, nepotism and recycling employees with records of misconduct, Mr Brouwer said in a report tabled in parliament on Wednesday.
Mr Brouwer said many of the public servants he investigated should never have been given a job in the first place.
In one case, a public servant with a serious criminal past was given access to firearms, while a woman with a history of theft accepted gifts and inducements from a supplier before wasting tens of thousands of dollars of public money.
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Another had an intervention order for violent behaviour before being charged with assaulting a member of the public while working.
Mr Brouwer said he found many instances of contract and casual appointments made based on nepotism, particularly in schools and tertiary education centres.
In some cases, working with children and police checks were not done, despite being legally mandated.
Mr Brouwer recommended the State Services Authority make guidelines for disclosures of criminal records, as well as better guidelines on good governance and accountability for public servants.
He also recommended Parks Victoria review its regulations for employee access to firearms.
Mr Brouwer said all of his recommendations had been accepted.
