Cathy McGowan (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

There are three main points to my speech today. The first is to call on the government for action. The second is to outline the important elements of this bill. And the third is to acknowledge the support of the crossbenchers in bringing this bill to parliament, because surely today I'm part of a team, and this team represents the combined feelings of the people of Australia for our government to take national action in setting up a national integrity commission.

We have brought to this parliament what we think is best practice, and we now call on the government to tell us why not. And if they can't tell us why not, what they need to tell us is what it will take to bring to this parliament something that they will agree to. But it's not just for the government to agree to it—our call is for this whole parliament to work in a bipartisan way to give this country what it needs, and to do that before the next election so that we do not go to the election in 2019 arguing about the need for this bill.

In presenting this bill today I will now outline the main aspects of the bill. It's a package of bills that we put forward with the aim of promoting public trust and confidence in the integrity of parliament, the public sector and a system of government.

The package is about creating a culture of integrity and a proactive and solutions focused approach to preventing corruption.

The intent is to create a nationally coordinated integrity framework, with an emphasis on prevention, supported by strong powers of intervention to enable criminal charges or other actions in response to cases of corruption.

But rather than simply focusing on public naming and shaming, the objective of this package is to create a national culture of integrity where the expectation is that all of us are our best selves.

But the bill does not just stand alone. It's on the shoulders of giants that I present the work today. I acknowledge the Australian Research Council's Linkage Projects scheme and Strengthening Australia's National Integrity System: Priorities for Reform, led by Transparency International Australia and Griffith University. I'm delighted to welcome to parliament today Fiona McLeod and Professor AJ Brown and thank you for your work. I acknowledge the report of the Senate Select Committee on a National Integrity Commission in 2017, the Australian Greens' bill of the same name—first introduced to parliament in 2012—and the recommendation of The Australia Institute's National Integrity Committee.

In developing this bill we have taken a similar approach to the Australian Greens bill by modelling the investigative functions of the commission on the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity, known as ACLEI.

In most cases, the powers mirror those of the Law Enforcement Integrity Commissioner. This is a tried-and-tested approach at the Commonwealth level, and this bill incorporates best practice from the integrity framework of other jurisdictions. We've learnt our lesson; it's not a cut-and-paste of the state based integrity commission.

At a Commonwealth level there is a need for different approaches, where coordination, prevention and protection exist alongside the investigative role.

The bill complements the Australian government's support for the Open Government Partnership and will help ensure Australia meets its obligations under the UN Convention against Corruption, the OECD Convention on foreign bribery and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.

What will the bill do?

The bill will establish the Australian National Integrity Commission as an independent, broad based, public sector anticorruption commission for the Commonwealth.

Coordination

The commission will be the lead agency for key functions, both existing and proposed, in a Commonwealth integrity framework and it will fill gaps in coverage.

It will act as a partner to existing Commonwealth and state integrity and law enforcement agencies, with provisions for referrals, joint investigations and joint projects.

Pro-integrity

It will be pro integrity. The commission will lead a strong and embedded corruption prevention program, with education, research and investigation for the Commonwealth public sector.

The commission will lead the development of a rolling national integrity and anticorruption action plan, with wide participation, and oversight its implementation, playing a strategic coordination role across all sectors and jurisdictions.

Investigation

The commission will have the power of a royal commission to investigate, where necessary, corruption issues involving or affecting the Commonwealth government, to be executed at the discretion of the commissioner.

It may hold a public inquiry and/or public hearings where satisfied that this is the most effective means of investigation and, on balance, will be in the public interest.

Referrals to the commission can be made by anybody who identifies a corruption issue.

There will be a mandatory reporting requirement for public officials and Commonwealth agency heads.

The commissioner will have the discretion on how to manage referrals, including dealing with frivolous or vexatious referrals.

After due process, the commission will be empowered to make findings of fact to be referred then to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions or other enforcement agencies for consideration for prosecution in criminal cases.

It will also be empowered to make other findings of fact and recommendations, including by way of public report, in relation to non-criminal corruption issues, prevention and others areas of integrity reform.

Protection

The Whistleblower Protection Commissioner—and I dedicate this section to my colleague Andrew Wilkie—will:

The Whistleblower Protection Commissioner will partner with the Commonwealth Ombudsman and the Australian Securities Investment Commission.

It will act as the whistleblower protection authority for the Commonwealth public sector and Commonwealth regulated private and not-for-profit agencies, as recommended by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services.

Who will hold the commission to account?

The bill will also establish bodies to monitor the activities and administration of the National Integrity Commission:

It will also be subject to judicial review by the federal and high courts of Australia.

The bill will operate alongside a second bill, which I will introduce next week—the National Integrity (Parliamentary Standards) Bill 2018. Together, it is our intention that these bills will boost confidence in the Commonwealth parliament by equipping it to prevent, manage and resolve its own integrity issues, where possible, while also providing clear pathways for investigation and resolution of serious corruption issues.

With my remaining time, I would now like to call on the seconder of the bill, the member for Mayo, to add her comments to why this bill is important for the future of Australia.

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We'll just wait for the process. Is the motion seconded?

Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion. I appreciate the time given to me by the member for Indi and congratulate the member for Indi on this huge body of work, because we, as a crossbench, do not have the huge Public Service to use. We rely on other like-minded people to support us, and I, too, would like to acknowledge the work done by Transparency International Australia and also the Australia Institute. In this chamber, if this parliament does not take a stand against corruption then what message are we sending to the Australian people? That message is that we believe in this federal parliament there is nothing to see, that somehow we are immune from the same failings that have already been exposed at state level and in our banks and in our churches. We are also saying that we condone and accept the consequences of corruption—that we as a nation have no issue with nepotism, undue influence or the misuse of public funds.

So I call on this government—if this government fails to establish a national integrity commission, they are contributing to the erosion of public trust and confidence, and we cannot allow this to happen. We have now dropped to 13th. We are out of the top 10 of the corruptions perceptions index. As usual, we're behind New Zealand. Sadly, that is how it is on so many levels of governance now and it is a great shame. This country—this nation, this parliament—must do better, and so I urge the government to use its time in this parliament to adopt a bipartisan approach. Work with us. Work with the opposition. We all want this, because we all know that sunlight is, indeed, the best disinfectant. We have a number of weeks left to go. Let's use the will of the parliament to do this.

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned. Resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next day of sitting.