THE Brumby Government has backed Victoria Police's infiltration of activist and community groups, rejecting calls for greater scrutiny of covert police operations.

Police Minister Bob Cameron said the internal police controls covering the secret activities of the Security Intelligence Group were sufficient. "There is appropriate oversight in place as Deputy Chief Commissioner Simon Overland outlined last week," he said.

The activities of the intelligence unit are overseen by Mr Overland, another senior officer and two retired magistrates.

State Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu, the Law Institute of Victoria, Liberty Victoria and numerous community and protest groups have called for the covert activities of police to be supervised by an external body such as a parliamentary committee.

Their calls came after The Age revealed this month that a covert police officer had infiltrated groups such as Animal Liberation Victoria, Stop the War Coalition, Unity for Peace and Socialist Alternative over two years.