George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

I did not see the program to which you refer. I am generally aware of it. I saw a promotional advertisement for it, so I am generally aware of the kind of allegations that were made in that program. I have no basis on which to judge the veracity or the accuracy of any allegations that were made during the course of that program.

I acquaint you with what the Commonwealth does do to protect the Australian national interest in relation to corrupt foreign payments. Under section 70.2 of the Criminal Code we have the offence of 'foreign bribery', whereby a person is guilty of an offence if the person provides, causes or offers a benefit to another person, the benefit is not legitimately due and the person does so with the intention of influencing a foreign public official in the exercise of the official's duties in order to obtain business or obtain a business advantage that is not legitimately due. As well, Australia is a party to the OECD antibribery convention and has been since 1999.

Australia is in fact a member of the OECD Working Group on Bribery. In 2012 the working group on bribery evaluated Australia's implementation of the antibribery convention. The evaluation report made 33 recommendations to enhance our antibribery regime. In December 2014, the OECD published the response, and the OECD—