The day has finally arrived: an Australian government today made good on its commitment to legislate an integrity watchdog, the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC). But there is one major bone of contention … secrecy. Callum Foote reports on the spectre of a Secret National Anti-Corruption Commission (SNACC).
Transparency International’s global experience knows that too often great anti-corruption reforms get watered down over the years. We need to future proof Australia’s National Anti-Corruption Commission against any risk of being watered down by future governments by ensuring it is independent and its resourcing is shielded from politics
Labor will argue that an anti-corruption body that isn’t supported by the opposition risks charges of illegitimacy and abolition at the next change of government. Well and good — if the Coalition wants to go to the next election promising to abolish a federal ICAC, let them knock themselves out. Labor would do far better to be seen to negotiate with the teal independents and David Pocock, strengthening their case to voters at the next election to keep their seats. Tomorrow has become a significant test for Labor: once the legislation for a federal ICAC is unveiled, we can see whether Labor is serious about integrity, or has indeed been preparing a major party stitch-up.
Reports that Labor is in talks with Peter Dutton over the looming Federal Integrity Commission laws have spread alarm Anthony Albanese might walk back on his pledge for a credible anti-corruption body. Callum Foote reports on the timing, the critical detail, the delays and the latest scare.
A Federal ICAC that does what it’s meant to will make the Anthony Albanese government, but a Federal ICAC that is nothing more than smoke and mirrors will destroy his government. We’ll all have a good idea of what the Federal ICAC will and won’t achieve when the legislation is made public so I will reserve any judgment until then.
Parliament has been suspended for at least 15 days due to the Queen’s death so the promise to table legislation for a National Anti-corruption Commission next week won’t happen but should happen not long after parliament resumes.
Recent revelations that former Prime Minister Scott Morrison secretly swore himself in as a co-minister in three portfolios may explain why he stood so firmly in the way of a Federal ICAC.
Further reform is needed to tackle the depth of misconduct shaming Australian politics, other than just launching an integrity commission, writes Dr Tim Dunlop.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Age, Robert Redlich, QC, said in the lead-up to the November state election that scrutinising “how the government of the day is expending the public purse” was the most important role of a commission like his.
For years, he has been doling out money hand over fist, often to people with connections to the Liberal or National parties, for water rights or dubious dams.
There was the Politics in the Pub night in Shepparton where Joyce promised irrigators more water from the Murray-Darling.
“We have taken water, put it back into agriculture, so we could look after you and make sure we don’t have the greenies running the show.”
He dismissed a Four Corners program about water theft as “them trying to take more water off you, trying to create a calamity.”
Never mind about fish kills and dried up rivers and towns with no drinking water.
Then there was ‘Watergate’ where Barnaby paid $80 million to a company with connections to Angus Taylor for worthless overland water flows.
Urannah dam is a whole other can of worms with hundreds of millions being funnelled to a company run by people with links to the LNP for a project facing serious questions about its economic benefit.
Likewise the Dungowan dam proposed for Barnaby’s own electorate, where he said he has “no real interest” in seeing the business case because “we’re not asking for a return”.
In March, Joyce promised $5.4 billion to build the Hells Gate dam on the Burdekin River despite there being no business case and no assessment of the environmental impacts yet.
Barnaby’s baby, the Inland Rail, also deserves scrutiny.
When the anti-corruption body gets up and running, I envisage there will be a few politicians quaking in their shoes with the worry of will ‘I’ be next or indeed first cab of the rank. This is good news for every Australian opposed to the corruption we have seen in the former Morrison government.
The prime minister has indicated the car park and sports rorts affairs could be investigated by the national anti-corruption commission his government has promised to establish.
Without a strong anti-corruption commission, Australians cannot trust that the government of the day is spending the nation’s money in our best interests. So why are News Corp columnists so opposed, asks jurist Stephen Charles. The Murdoch press has shown itself to be no friend of the fight against corruption in politics. The Australian columnists Gerard Henderson and Janet Albrechtsen have led the charge against a federal integrity body. Albrechtsen’s May 11 column supporting Scott Morrison’s disdain for these bodies ignores the real concerns of the public as well as most experts in the field. Before the 2019 election, this government promised to establish such a body.
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 the commission came into being.
The LNP and the IPA said much the same of the ABC. That scrutiny of the Government by any “public investigative service” would result in an “autocracy and so they proceeded to dismantle and or prevent their existense. Much the same can be said of any independent statutory body as far as the Morrison Liberals Morrison are concerned. This government is already an autocracy with a number of bills not passed and their intransigent Nope Nope Nope “we don’t negotiate” attitudes.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has opened a new front in the debate over a national integrity commission, declaring Australia could become an unrecognizable “public autocracy” if such a body is given too much influence over government decision-making.
Critics who labelled the New South Wales anti-corruption watchdog as a “kangaroo court” – a phrase used by the prime minister in his criticisms of the agency – were “buffoons” who were launching unfounded attacks, a parliamentary committee has heard. Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) commissioner Stephen Rushton told a parliamentary review that references to the body as a “kangaroo court” weren’t just misleading but were also untrue. People who made those comments were “buffoons”, he told the review into the annual reports of the Icac and the Inspector of the Icac. Rushton said the Icac had been in place for more than 30 years, exposing corruption and maintaining trust in public administration.
During a campaign stop last week in Launceston, Prime Minister Scott Morrison was challenged on his record of delivering promises made during the 2019 election campaign.Asked if his failure to establish a federal anti-corruption body amounted to a broken promise, Mr Morrison responded: “Well, no. It’s not.””I have honoured my proposal,” he said, arguing the issue lay not with the government but with a lack of “bipartisan support” from Labor.”We put forward our proposal in detailed legislation and it has not been supported by the Labor Party,” he added.But the evidence suggests that Mr Morrison did break his promise.
Morrison simply doesn’t trust the LNP so he wants to CONTROL IT
There is a very simple reason why Prime Minister Scott Morrison broke his pre-2019 election promise to introduce into parliament legislation to establish a Commonwealth integrity commission. It wasn’t that it was attacked as being too weak by the Labor Party, independents, retired judges and some of his own backbenchers. It was because if he had brought the legislation into Parliament he would have lost control of it. He knew he could not trust all of his backbenchers to support the government’s line, and that a few of them – enough of them – would have voted with Labor and the independents to transform his proposed ineffective integrity commission into one with teeth, one that could investigate the misdeeds of politicians such as himself, and hold public hearings that could damage them politically.
In the eyes of the world Australia has slid on the Corruption Index. In the eyes of Morrison ICAC spells FEAR
Scott Morrison appears to be fearful of the prospect of a federal integrity commission conducting investigations, the former barrister for NSW’s anti-corruption agency says. The Prime Minister pledged to voters before the last election to establish a Commonwealth integrity commission during the most recent Parliament, but never did.
Conclusion: You Are What You Do The current government has a tenuous relationship with integrity. Morrison could not lie straight in bed, as his remarks on the campaign trail referenced above suggest. As Senator Wells said ‘the fish stinks from the head’. The refusal to introduce a federal corruption watchdog, along with the terrible arguments against it, speaks volumes about the Morrison Government. This cabal of (allegedly) corrupt corporate criminals must be removed and a powerful, retrospective, non-partisan watchdog introduced.
Scott Morrison has effectively abandoned his promise to establish a federal anti-corruption watchdog, confirming he would only proceed with legislation in the new parliament if Labor agreed to pass the Coalition’s heavily criticised proposal without amendments.
Australian Future Leaders Program is set to receive $18m over five years and an extra $4m a year after that The Prime Minister’s department says the organisation has no office or staff it knows of However, the department insists it had followed due diligence in awarding the funding
The Australian government has decided not to establish a federal anti-corruption watchdog this parliamentary term, despite a promise in December 2018 to deliver an integrity commission with teeth, resources and proper processes that will protect the integrity of Australia’s Commonwealth public administration In the three years since that promise was made, Australia has slipped further down the international corruption league tables. On the respected Corruption Perceptions Index compiled by Transparency International, it is now in 18th position, down from 13th in 2018.
Parliament is in recess and another year has gone without the Morrison government honouring its promise to establish a federal ICAC. It is clearly reluctant to do so at all, while rorts and scandals continue to erode trust in our politicians. The system is broken, and it will take much more than an integrity and corruption commission to fix it. Kim Wingerei reports. A wise person once said: the problem is rarely the problem, it’s failure to deal with the problem that becomes the problem. The problems run deep in Federal Parliament, but they can be addressed.
Above all, Morrison’s backing of Gladys helps normalise corruption as a way of government and the price of doing business. Whilst it’s a dog-whistle to the “freedoms” mob demonstrating against being vaccinated and imported lies and conspiracies about a deep state, it is also an act of desperation born out a Machiavellian realpolitik that tells him his government needs to win at least one other seat in NSW. “Politics is governed by the iron laws of arithmetic” his mentor Howard drily opined in an absurd reduction that helps our democracy drown in cynicism and distrust. In reality as Tony Fitzgerald argues, we need every politician to acknowledge that “membership of a political party doesn’t excuse them from their personal obligations to act honourably, and political parties to understand that voters will only vote for politicians who make and keep promises to act ethically.”
Funny thing about the federal government’s orchestrated multiple “Gladys for Warringah” media moments: They weren’t really about a former Liberal premier perhaps running for a former Liberal prime minister’s seat. They were about lessening the damage Scott Morrison is suffering from telling lies and running what is arguably the most corrupt Commonwealth government in our 120 years of federation.
How dare LNP Politicians be questioned for “integrity” by any body other than the LNP itself. Royal Commissions are there to investigate the ALP and their Left-Wing comrades because unlike Morrison, Frydenberg, Dutton, Tudge, or Berejiklian Liberals “never” lie. They have attested to that publicly.
Scott Morrison’s attacks on NSW’s ICAC and endorsement of embattled former premier Gladys Berejiklian to join federal politics have intensified, with the Prime Minister saying she would be a “great” candidate, despite an ongoing corruption investigation.Senior Liberals are escalating their public calls for Ms Berejiklian to switch from NSW politics to Canberra – despite a cloud hanging over her knowledge of corruption by ex-boyfriend Daryl Maguire – in the face of a huge community campaign from Warringah incumbent Zali Steggall.And even as the federal government stalls its plans for a Commonwealth integrity body, Mr Morrison has again attacked the NSW anti-corruption watchdog, hinting that an adverse finding against Ms Berejiklian wouldn’t scupper any bid for high office.“I think she would be great. The way that Gladys Berejiklian has been treated has been shameful,” PM Morrison said on Monday.gladys berejiklian icacMs Berejiklian gives evidence to ICAC in October.“I don’t call that justice.”
Morrison’s usual escape hatch is to blame someone else. He admits he doesn’t run the country and that the first rule of the Morrison government is ” I dont hold any hose” the ALP does. So why not just call an election and retire hurt? The tradesman in the hi-viz vest and hard hat who keeps blaming his tools applied for the wrong job in which there’s an opposition. “ScaMo it’s called a Democracy and you do more than have your picture taken”.
The Coalition government has no plans to introduce a long-promised federal integrity commission and has blamed the delay on a lack of support from the Opposition – despite making no changes to a proposed model blasted by experts as the weakest in the country.
The Morrison Government recently managed to scuttle debate of Helen Haines’ proposed bill for forming a Federal ICAC, by way of a technicality, writes Ross Jones. THE PROSPECT of a Federal Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) terrifies Scott Morrison. What skeletons might tumble out is anyone’s guess. On Thursday afternoon in Parliament, the prime minister was reduced to a cartoon-spitting monster at the very thought of such a thing. But that little outburst came near the end of a long and trying day at the coalface of democracy.
The 1,000-person convention centre at a Wagga Wagga gun club at the heart of corruption investigations is a major white elephant and not one of the “potential conference events” spruiked to get its $5.5 million grant have eventuated.
The reason Dominic Perrottet became Premier of New South Wales is Gladys Berejiklian chose to join the select group of Liberal Party New South Wales Premiers that resigned before undergoing the scrutiny of a New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption public hearing. Of course, Berejiklian had her supporters, they are the ones that were questioning why ICAC was investigating her, rather than the correct question – why did she resign as a Member of Parliament prior to ICAC passing judgement on her actions? The answer to the ‘correct’ question will come out in due course and we’re not even going to hazard a guess what the final outcome is
“Money makes the world go around?” As Gladys Berejiklian fronts the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption, ICAC – only to be told to stop her pre-rehearsed pleas of innocence and virtue and just answer the question, taped phone calls reveal former love- buddy, Daryl Maguire, had a virtual key to the public treasure chest, along with a key to her home as part of her swinging “Love-circle” – as she fondly dubs her retinue of friends with benefits. It’s going very badly for gold standard Gladys and mentor Scott Morrison. Especially Morrison, who’s betrayed by protégé Mathias Cormann whom the PM worked maniacally to make his OECD mole. Then the world mocks his absurd energy “Plan”. Morrison also loses his pin-up girl to what sounds unmistakably like corruption on taped calls, allegedly between the ex-premier and her former paramour. Worse, it’s an ill-timed reminder of the government’s promise of a federal ICAC, impotent, unworkable and now three years’ old. The PM doesn’t want any type of ICAC at all, least of all one with teeth, Rachel Withers notes because most of his government’s ministers would be hauled in to answer to it. Like a squid squirting ink,the Coalition quickly exudes a noxious miasma of lies to discredit the state integrity body and to cloud our view of its own transgressions.
The Morrison government is trailing a dismal chain of scandals. But no one seems to get called to account. Ministers refuse to be interviewed by the AFP. Even a debate about referring Porter to the privileges committee over the secret sources of his legal funding is voted down by the government numbers. No wonder cynics stalk the land.
Berejiklian certainly knew Maguire had been corrupt since he surrendered to the truth in July 2018, but she said nothing, presumably hoping he’d swing by himself while she carried on saving the state from an onslaught arguably caused by her own government’s negligence when it comes to limo drivers and at-risk aircrew. But now, NSW ICAC wants her back for another session. On 1 October 2021, NSW ICAC announced a further inquiry in Operation Keppel would commence on 18 October 2021. Berejiklian resigned on 2 October. Deputy Premier and NSW Nationals leader John Barilaro resigned only a few days later. He says for personal reasons. Gladys will be replaced by the Minister for iCare which has put thousands of injured NSW workers through hell for its own profit. The next session of the NSW ICAC on 18 October will no doubt shed more light on the sorry, corrupt state of NSW. It is not done yet.
Like Trump Morrison is head down and trying to kill his Party. Trump got hold if the GOP Morrison has merely ensured the rise if Independents, as was the case in Warringah to, rid ourselves of the likes of him and return us politicians who are there to provide a sense of service and not just a 4 year media photoshoot and spin
Right now we are witnessing a high-speed evolution of political integrity in Australia. In fairly short order we’ve gone from a Premier grabbing bags of cash and selling knighthoods, to a Premier resigning over what might be a matter of diving into the pork barrel to do a mate a favor. The journey from Sir Robert Askin to Gladys Berejiklian represents a tide in the affairs of politics that is gaining momentum. For the moment, the flood is crashing up against a resolute wall shielding the Morrison government’s lack of integrity and its unprecedented exploitation of public money for the benefit of the Liberal and National parties – but that wall can’t last. The disparity between what is expected of New South Wales politicians and what federal politicians flaunt is one of the three core issues driving the rise of the independents’ movement towards the next election.
We couldn’t expect anything else from our do-nothing leader
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has pointed to the resignation of Gladys Berejiklian as a reason not to introduce a NSW-style federal corruption commission.
Cue the sound of one invisible hand clapping – doing nothing undoes everything. The Covid Crusader’s government presides over the baffling mystery of who gave permission to the Ruby Princess to dock in Sydney 19 March 2020 and to let all 2650 passengers disembark. It’s an enigma. At least the ruling elite’s cult de jour, our Hillsong prosperity gospellers, are allowed to come ashore and bring their covid infections with them. No-one is brought to account. What we do is have an inquiry. Normalising corruption is something the Morrison government has turned into an art form, the embossed wallpaper of modern politics. Instead of penalties, Ministers get promotions. Witness sports rorts’ Bridget McKenzie. Back with not one but five portfolios. In the end, Gladys makes a bad exit. Whilst she may appear to enjoy a type of celebrity, this is not to be confused with legitimacy. Indeed, her authority is undermined by the corporate media’s wilful myth-making, in which she is taken captive, made into a type of mascot or trophy wife for appeasing business demands for as little regulation as possible.
Well, I could be wrong, but I suspect that any day now there’ll be media articles about what a mistake it would be to have a Federal Integrity Commission when ICAC is responsible for such a great Premier as Gladys having to stand down when she’s done nothing more than have loyalty to her partner and if we’d had a similar one at federal level then who knows how many of the great performers like Stuart Robert or Richard Colbeck would have lost their portfolios over some minor issue like forgetting where they left it.
olddogthoughts 