Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Wentworth for her amendment. Perhaps by way of comment on what she has said about the nature of these very important positions under the National Anti-Corruption Commission Bill, namely the positions of the commissioner, the deputy commissioners and the inspector: the independence of these officeholders is guaranteed by the provisions of this bill, which provides powers for the commissioner and other officeholders. It gives the commissioner and other officeholders clear duties. It directly describes the way in which those powers are to be exercised and makes it absolutely clear that those powers are theirs and theirs alone.

As to the parliamentary approval process for the appointment of these officeholders, which is what the amendment goes to: the government has provided for multipartisan representation on the parliamentary joint committee on the National Anti-Corruption Commission. There is an unusual membership for this parliamentary joint committee. It is to have 12 members—six senators and six members of the House of Representatives. Of those 12 members, there are to be six government members, four opposition members and two crossbench members, and, as the bill provides, there will be a casting vote which will belong to the government chair. Of course, the government intends and hopes that the appointments to this commission receive multipartisan support. As I said earlier in this debate, broad parliamentary support for appointments will be important for the commission's credibility.

The proposed recommendations for appointments to these important positions will be subject to transparent and merit based processes and statutory eligibility criteria. It's the government's view that this will ensure that appointments are subject to appropriate oversight and that the recommended candidates for these roles will have the confidence of the parliament. It's appropriate that the government of the day, which has responsibility for government decisions regarding the commission such as funding, hold the role of chair and have the casting vote. The government does not support an amendment which would in essence give a veto to non-government members of both houses of parliament.

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