A federal integrity watchdog would find itself very busy, but it's vital that it not be weaponised for base political purpose.
Federal politicians and officials who contemplate behaving corruptly or improperly should run the risk of getting NIC’d. Right now, they could be quite confident their wrongdoing would not come to light. It’s time Australia had a National Integrity Commission (NIC).
An under-resourced Australian National Audit Office is exposing rorts and, in one case, possible criminal behaviour, but its shrinking budget is forcing it to cut back on the number of audits it can do each year. Despite these budget cuts, the Audit Office has exposed the so-called #sportsrorts and the purchase of land at Badgery’s Creek for 10 times its market value.
Then there’s the $2.5 billion Community Development Grants program which, at 25 times the size of the #sportsrorts boondoggle, continues to direct the vast bulk of its largesse to Coalition seats.
Programs such as these might not be unlawful, but they accelerate the downward spiral in public trust in our politicians and institutions. Shining a light on them is the best deterrent but in the absence of a National Integrity Commission that task is left to whistle blowers, Senate hearings whose questions are routinely ignored and a few investigative journalists.
Where outright illegality is suspected, the Australian Federal Police can be called in, such as by the Department of Home Affairs in relation to the leaking of an ASIO briefing in an effort to embarrass political opponents. But in this case, as in others, the AFP – which has other pressing priorities – was not able to get to the bottom of the matter.
A favoured approach when a scandal comes to light is for an internal review to be initiated, for it to proceed slowly and for politicians, when asked about the matter, to say they can’t comment because it might prejudice the outcome of the review.
Tip-offs to the media about an imminent police raid are yet another practice that is at the very least improper and at worst capable of putting the police in danger. It has been established that ministerial advisers tipped off the media about the police raids of the offices of the Australian Workers’ Union. And the media were up bright and early to film the police raiding the offices of a NSW state Labor backbencher.
In February 2018, the federal government announced its intention to introduce a Commonwealth Integrity Commission. A bill has been drafted, but public consultation on it has been shelved since the onset of COVID-19. The prime minister has indicated it will not be taken forward while the government is grappling with the pandemic. Meanwhile, the independent Member for Indi, has introduced a bill to establish a NIC. The government, however, has the numbers to prevent debate and a vote on the bill.
If a bill could be agreed in the Senate by Labor, the Greens and the crossbenches, it could be brought on there and passed against the government’s wishes. The government could use its majority to block it in the House but that would be a very bad look.
In a welcome development, the Attorney-General has now released a consultation draft, with submissions due by 12 February next year.
Support for a National Integrity Commission might seem strange coming from someone who was referred three times in quick succession to Queensland’s Criminal Justice Commission, now the Crime and Misconduct Commission. Having left Bob Hawke’s office to take up the position of Director-General of the Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage, I was apparently considered fair game by the Liberal-Nationals Opposition.
The third referral took seven months to resolve following a full public inquiry. It was the worst time of my professional life. As with the first two referrals, I was fully exonerated. My referrals to the Commission and the immediate notification to the media on each occasion led to the Commission calling for a change in the law to prevent a person disclosing that a complaint had been made and the details of the complaint.
The reason for mentioning this abuse for political purposes it to support safeguards in the legislation to prevent the National Integrity Commission being exploited for politically opportunistic purposes. Having punched a hole in the hallway wall of our house out of sheer frustration when it seemed the investigation would never end, continually fed as it was by ever-wilder allegations that I was a drug smuggler and gun runner, I know how a National Integrity Commission could be weaponised for political purposes.
But with proper drafting and in a spirit of bipartisan cooperation, a National Integrity Commission could become law in the first sittings of next year. There’s no excuse for further delay.
Craig Emerson is managing director of Emerson Economics, director of the Australian APEC Study Centre at RMIT, a distinguished fellow at the ANU and an adjunct professor at Victoria University’s College of Business.