Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts) Share this | Hansard source

The simple fact is: while the shadow Attorney-General may not like it, what I'm going to squarely is the very extensive policy efforts made by this government in developing a detailed model for a Commonwealth integrity commission. I know the shadow Attorney-General is not great on detail when he doesn't have an instructing solicitor; I know that. We have a detailed model. We have committed, as I was saying before he leapt to his feet on an unsuccessful point, $150 million in funding. And it's very clear that the Commonwealth integrity commission will be able to investigate past conduct and matters that occurred prior to its commencement. Its jurisdiction—this is an important point—will include over 145 criminal offences that currently exist in legislation, including offences under the Criminal Code Act, fraud, abuse of office, falsification of documents, offences under the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Act and the Public Interest Disclosure Act. Under our detailed and well-developed policy framework, the government will also create new offences relating to corrupt conduct, including concealing corruption and repeated public sector corruption. So we have a well-developed model, and I simply repeat the offer that the Prime Minister has made publicly and repeatedly: we stand ready to introduce this legislation as soon as the Labor Party indicates that it will support it.

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