Canberra lobbying must be reined in. Here’s how we can protect our democracy

Summary The Centre for Public Integrity, in a recent study, highlighted how the Australian federal lobbying practices and regulations have been subverted, resulting in secrecy, corruption, and unfair access and influence. The past few decades have seen the Australian government’s climate change policy heavily influenced by fossil fuel lobbyists, an epitome of the OECD’s “policy… Read More

Daniel Andrews’ dismissal of IBAC ‘awful, offensive’, says former judge

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has been heavily criticised by Stephen Charles KC, retired Court of Appeal judge and board member of the Centre for Public Integrity, Australia’s leading anti-corruption think tank, for his response to findings of misconduct in his government. Andrews dismissed the findings, which revealed improper influence and misconduct in the awarding of… Read More

Pork-barrelling should be banned under ministerial code: ex-ICAC boss

Summary: Call for Pork-Barrelling Ban in Federal Ministerial Code of Conduct Peter Hall, former chief of the NSW corruption watchdog, advocates for a ban on pork-barrelling in the federal Ministerial Code of Conduct, arguing that it can equate to criminal conduct when public funds are allocated for party-political gain. This push is part of the… Read More

Media Release – “Time to act on pork barrelling” Former ICAC Commissioner

The former Chief Commissioner of NSW ICAC, the Hon Peter Hall KC, has today called for action to strengthen the administration of Commonwealth grants. Speaking as the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit holds inquiry hearings into Commonwealth grants administration, Mr Hall has advocated that pork barrelling be included in the Ministerial Code of… Read More

MP pushes for new laws to end ‘jobs for mates’ culture

Summary Independent MP Sophie Scamps is advocating for a more transparent and impartial process for major government-appointed jobs in Australia. In her first private member’s bill, she plans to propose the establishment of a public appointments commissioner to mediate an independent recruitment process, preventing governments from gifting lucrative positions to political allies. This proposal, drafted… Read More

Media release – Joint statement on the National Anti-Corruption Commission Bill 2022

As the NACC Bill returns to Parliament today, the country’s leading integrity organisations and experts are making a united call for the elimination of the ‘exceptional circumstances’ threshold for public hearings. The Centre for Public Integrity, Transparency International Australia, the Human Rights Law Centre, the Accountability Roundtable, the Ethics Centre, the Governance Institute and the… Read More

Media release – Public hearings lead to corruption findings

All public hearings by NSW ICAC in the last 10 years have made findings of corrupt conduct or wrongdoing, according to new research by the Centre for Public Integrity. Analysis of annual reports and investigation reports by NSW ICAC show that the claims of reputational damage are overstated, and that public hearingsexpose corruption. The analysis… Read More

Media Release – Corruption experts welcome corruption commission

Press conference 1.30pm at the Mural Hall with Stephen Charles AO KC, Michael Barker KC and Geoffrey Watson SC. The Centre for Public Integrity today welcomed the tabling of the National Anti-Corruption Commission Bill (2022). The experts’ analysis of the bill found that it contains strong investigative powers and a broad jurisdiction, and is able… Read More

Media bite – ‘Any person’ could be probed by new corruption watchdog: Dreyfus

The Centre for Public Integrity’s chair, Anthony Whealy, has welcomed the government’s move to give the federal corruption watchdog the power to investigate anyone trying to induce public officials to engage in dishonest conduct, widening its scope to capture “third parties” in an effort to improve integrity in government. However, experts say the commission should… Read More

Crossbench concerns over narrow scope of national anti-corruption body

Days out from the likely release of the federal government’s anti-corruption bill, some key crossbenchers are raising concerns it might not be given the level of power they are looking for. Federal parliament will resume next week after a fortnight’s delay due to the death of the Queen, and the government will use the sitting… Read More

‘Unresolved’: Crossbenchers declare sticking points with Labor’s corruption watchdog

Crossbench MPs have declared there are still major sticking points with the federal government’s proposal for a national corruption watchdog as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese tries to avoid breaking a key election promise to legislate the body by the end of the year. The crossbench MPs are worried Labor’s integrity commission will not be broad… Read More

Why Star will stay open despite Bell Review findings

The NSW government and the state’s gaming watchdog have little choice but to let Star Entertainment keep its Pyrmont casino open, corporate governance experts say, despite an inquiry hearing evidence of widespread failures at the group. Speaking ahead of the likely release of the Bell Review into Star on Tuesday, some experts believed there may… Read More

Albanese pushed to pass ‘urgent’ integrity reforms after Queen’s death delays

Independent MPs are urging Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to honour his election pledge to pass laws this year to create a national integrity commission amid growing fears he will miss the deadline and deliver a weaker watchdog than they want. Concern at the delay has spread among crossbench MPs after the government suspended Parliament to… Read More

‘Transparency has been killed by obstruction’ as officials flout FOI rules

Federal officials are flouting their own rules by rejecting fair requests to release documents and disclose the reasons for sweeping decisions, sparking a new warning about a “culture of secrecy” in politics and government. The decisions have created a “clogged and slow” system that drags out many of the 35,000 requests from Australians under the… Read More

Calls for probe into Tasmanian political grants, amid revelation club where Liberal family member is treasurer wins $50k

An integrity expert has called for an independent inquiry into the Tasmanian Liberal Party’s use of a controversial grants fund during the 2021 election campaign, arguing millions of dollars of taxpayer money may have been misappropriated. The Liberals established the Local Communities Facilities Fund as an election promise, and a “Liberal Party Policy team” internally… Read More

Stronger safeguards around lobbying are a must

In any democracy, lobbying is a vital component of the political process, ensuring that varied interest groups can make their case on specific issues to elected officials. It is a source of reforms to policy, from neighbourhood planning to our response to global issues such as climate change.
Read More

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus orders Commonwealth to drop charges against lawyer Bernard Collaery

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has ordered the Commonwealth to drop the prosecution of lawyer Bernard Collaery, four years after he was charged with conspiring to release classified information about an alleged spying operation in East Timor. Mr Collaery was charged in 2018 for allegedly helping his client, an ex-spy known only as Witness K, to reveal… Read More

A life dedicated to the law and justice, without fear or favour

This interview with our committee member Nicholas Cowdrey AO QC by Peter Fitzsimmons was published in The Sydney Morning Herald on July 3 2022. Nicholas Richard Cowdery AO, QC, is the longest-serving director of public prosecutions in Australian history, having served in the role for NSW from 1994-2011. I talked to him on Friday morning.… Read More

Voters care about integrity – the Andrews government should pay heed

The message could not have been clearer at the last federal election. Voters do not see integrity, transparency and the misuse of public funds for political purposes as esoteric topics for think tank discussion groups, but fundamental issues that go to the heart of good government.
Read More

Siblings’ planning ties highlight flaws in lobbying laws

Lobbying is an undeniable reality of government decision-making in Australia, and the OECD has recognised that it can make a valuable contribution to the democratic process. It also cautions, however, that lobbying can lead to “undue influence, unfair competition and regulatory capture to the detriment of the public”.
Read More

The minister and the lobbyist: Blandthorn siblings face conflict questions

Premier Daniel Andrews’ appointment of new Planning Minister Lizzie Blandthorn has raised conflict-of-interest questions due to her lobbyist brother representing major development, construction and infrastructure clients. In an appointment that has unsettled some senior government and Labor insiders, the premier named Pascoe Vale MP Blandthorn to the sensitive planning role. Her brother, John-Paul Blandthorn, heads… Read More

Liberal MP was ‘patron’ of Queensland gun club for which he claimed to have ‘secured’ $20,000 grant

Ross Vasta says he had ‘no decision-making power over the process or the outcome’ in grant to Belmont Branch of the Sporting Shooters Association A Liberal MP said that he “secured” a $20,000 grant for a gun club which lists him as its patron, raising questions about whether he should have disclosed his links to… Read More

SA government denies pork-barrelling accusations on sports grants, amid broader national discussion over the practice

Written by Rory McClaren. Originally published by the ABC on June 26 2022. In politics, making good on election commitments should be thought of as core business. But how those promises are created, then delivered, in government can be a minefield for politicians of all political persuasions. From commuter cark parks by the Federal Coalition… Read More

31 former judges call for the establishment of a National Integrity Commission

Media release embargo 6am 18th May 2022 31 former judges have signed an open letter calling on political leaders to establish a National Integrity Commission. Signatories include former judge of the High Court Mary Gaudron QC, former Chief Justice of Queensland Catherine Holmes AC QC, and former Federal Court judge Michael Barker QC. The letter states: “Despite… Read More

Labor integrity commission to investigate allegations from a ‘long time ago’

Labor expects its proposed national integrity commission will examine alleged misconduct from as far back as 15 years, with both former and current politicians eligible to be investigated under a broad definition of corruption. Unlike the Coalition, Labor has promised to create an integrity body with retrospective powers, meaning it could examine decisions taken before… Read More

‘Scary’: Federal integrity body becomes an issue in battle for Brisbane

Queensland Liberal MP Trevor Evans has warned the crowd at a candidates’ forum in his marginal inner-Brisbane seat about the “scary” outcomes experienced by some of those investigated by state anti-corruption bodies. And despite Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s refusal to commit to setting up such an agency if the Coalition is returned to government after… Read More

When will there be a federal ICAC or anti-corruption commission? What are the parties promising?

Barnaby Joyce does not think many Australians will actually care that a national anti-corruption watchdog is still a pipedream when they cast their vote. The Deputy Prime Minister’s latest comments on why the Coalition has walked away from its 2019 election pledge to establish a Commonwealth integrity commission show the political calculation made in the… Read More

‘Public hearings expose corruption’: legal experts back federal ICAC as Scott Morrison ditches promise

Integrity experts have backed a public model of a federal corruption watchdog as the prime minister ditches his promise to establish one. Scott Morrison said a federal watchdog hosting public hearings would become a “kangaroo court” that would tarnish people’s reputations. But top silks say a federal model would be ineffective without public examinations with… Read More

Morrison walks from federal integrity commission, blames Labor

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has abandoned his 2019 election promise to establish a federal integrity commission, blaming Labor for not supporting the government’s model, as Opposition leader Anthony Albanese accused him of wanting to shield his ministers from corruption probes. Morrison sought to pin the blame on the Opposition for the failed commitment, saying his… Read More

MPs contradict Morrison on federal ICAC

Written by Finbarr O’Mallon on April 15 2022. Originally published in the Northern Beaches Review. Government frontbenchers have tried to walk back the prime minister’s lack of commitment to establishing a federal corruption watchdog if he wins next month’s election. Scott Morrison this week backflipped on a 2019 election promise to establish a federal anti-corruption… Read More

Labor: Corruption watchdog ‘overdue’

Written by Tess Ikonomou. Originally published in the Northern Beaches Review on APRIL 14 2022 A vote for Labor will be a vote for a “long overdue” national anti-corruption watchdog, the party’s election campaign spokesman says. Jason Clare criticised Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Wednesday afternoon over his refusal to commit to establishing a commission.… Read More

Taxpayers fund $55.6 billion in federal grants over less than four years

Taxpayers have funded $55.6 billion in federal grants over less than four years under rules that give ministers sweeping powers to decide the payments, with new research fuelling an election row over calls to establish a national integrity commission to safeguard public funds. The findings show the grants reached $20 billion last year alone across… Read More

Albanese challenges PM on federal corruption watchdog amid $55b grant concerns

Written by Finbar O’Mallon and originally published on 7news.com.au on 19 April 2022 Scott Morrison says he’ll only introduce his highly criticised model for a federal anti-corruption body if Labor promises to let it through unchanged. Labor leader Anthony Albanese has promised to legislate a federal anti-corruption commission by the end of the year if… Read More