Written by George Williams, Centre board member and University of New South Wales deputy vice-chancellor and professor of law. Originally published in the Australian on March 20 2022. The extreme measures deployed by governments to combat Covid-19 have produced white-hot anger in parts of the community. Vaccination mandates, border closures and lockdowns have fuelled protest… Read More
Clive Palmer spends 100 times more than major parties on advertising
Clive Palmer has spent more than $31 million since August on political attack advertising for his United Australia Party, dwarfing the outlay of the major parties and putting him on track to fulfil his promise to run the most expensive election campaign in the nation’s history. The advertising blitz in the lead-up to an expected… Read More
Rules on political donations must be tightened to restore trust
Written by Centre board member, George Williams, professor of law at the University of NSW. Originally published in the Australian on 7/3/22 State politics has yet again been tainted by crooked donations. The Independent Commission Against Corruption made findings of corruption last week against people including former NSW Labor MP Ernest Wong over attempts to… Read More
Federal anti-corruption commission ruled out before election as government refuses to introduce bill
Written by ABC political reporter Matthew Doran and originally published on February 7 2022 A national anti-corruption commission will not be established before the next federal election. Prime Minister Scott Morrison first announced a Commonwealth Integrity Commission (CIC) in December 2018, alongside then attorney-general Christian Porter. Despite years of consultation and draft legislation being released,… Read More
Steggall misstep highlights urgent need for political donation reform
Written by Han Aulby, executive director at the Centre for Public Integrity. Originally published in the Age Feb 15 2022 This week’s revelation that Independent MP Zali Steggall did not disclose the source of a $100,000 donation from the Kinghorn Family Trust shows that the problem of hidden money in politics goes beyond the major… Read More
Breaking election promise on integrity commission could prove costly
Written by Rob Harris on Feb 7 2022. Originally published in the Age. The chances of a long-promised federal integrity commission being established by May could well be a neat analogy with Scott Morrison’s current predicament. The clock is ticking and there mightn’t be much time left. An admission from federal Attorney-General Michaelia Cash on… Read More
Coalition has time for integrity bill: PM
Written by Georgie Moore AAP. Originally published: 07/02/2022 Scott Morrison has indicated there’s still time for the federal government to bring on its legislation for an integrity commission, as his attorney-general insists it cannot act without Labor’s support. The government is prioritising its bill to boost discrimination protections for religious Australians over a Commonwealth Integrity… Read More
Coalition blocks debate on tougher corruption watchdog
Written by Sarah Ison on Feb 9 2022. Originally published in the Australian The government has narrowly avoided a push from independent, Greens and Labor senators to debate a rival anti-corruption bill in the upper house, with the move being blocked after a tied vote in the Senate. Independent senator Rex Patrick on Wednesday morning… Read More
Stronger political donation rules are long overdue
This editorial was published in the Age on February 3 2022 As robust as we have thought it to be, democracy is not immune to breakdown. Just this week, it was revealed that during the last US election then president Donald Trump played a role in requesting that national security agencies take control of voting… Read More
Labor says PM ‘cannot be trusted’ as Cash shelves integrity commission pledge
Written by David Crowe and originally published in the Age on February 7, 2022 Labor leader Anthony Albanese will go to the election telling voters the only way to ensure integrity in politics is to elect a new government after Attorney-General Michaelia Cash shelved a promise made three years ago to create a federal anti-corruption… Read More