Gavin Pearce (Braddon, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Health, Aged Care and Indigenous Health Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

() (): On behalf of the Joint Committee on the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity, I present the committee's report entitled Examination of the annual report of the Integrity Commissioner 2021-22.

Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance with standing order 39(e).

by leave—I rise today, as the Deputy Chair of the Joint Committee on the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity, to speak on the annual report of the Integrity Commissioner for 2021-22. Under the Law Enforcement Integrity Commissioner Act 2006, the Joint Committee on the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity has a statutory role to examine each annual report prepared by the Integrity Commissioner. The committee held a public hearing on 8 February 2023 in order to examine the report and to speak with ACLEI about its performance over the reporting period, which was 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2022. The committee heard that ACLEI performed well against its performance framework in 2021-22, achieving most of its performance targets.

The areas requiring work were: improving time lines and assessing work in investigations. These areas have come into sharp focus with the preparation for ACLEI to become part of the newly formed National Anti-Corruption Commission, NACC, in mid-2023. The Integrity Commissioner told the committee that ACLEI had three key priorities for the remainder of its time: firstly, to complete the legislative requirements for ACLEI; secondly, to finish ACLEI well, meaning ACLEI is in a fortunate position of knowing it is coming to an end, and it will take the opportunities over the next two months to celebrate all that that committee has achieved; and, finally, to work with the Attorney-General's Department on the establishment of the NACC.

In relation to the areas for improvement, the committee was pleased to hear about the effort in order to reduce the backlog of investigative reports, but the committee notes in its report that this effort will need to be sustained given the number of matters that may be referred.

The committee heard that recruitment was a major focus for the reporting period. While investigative teams have grown, recruiting specialised skills such as those of investigators and intelligence analysts in this already small market with a tight labour market will be a significant challenge for the NACC. The committee noted various strategies that had been put in place, such as broadening the pool of ACLEI's officers over time beyond a law enforcement background, and opening offices outside of Canberra.

Noting the upcoming establishment of the NACC, the committee was pleased to see that ACLEI is now sharing information with a broader remit beyond agencies in its jurisdiction. For example, ACLEI has published its second annual Corruption vulnerabilities brief, and the Integrity Maturity Framework has now been developed. The committee noted the importance of this work, as agencies will come under NACC's jurisdiction with differing levels of maturity in relation to their integrity framework.

The committee thanked the Integrity Commissioner and the staff for their work over the reporting period.