Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

The commissioner will be able to investigate serious or systemic corrupt conduct that occurred before the commission was established. It will be a matter for the commissioner to determine what matters involving past conduct to investigate. The government does not support limiting this discretion for the commissioner. It can be expected that the amount of time that has elapsed since the conduct is alleged to have occurred will be a factor considered by the commission in determining whether it is a priority for investigation. In some cases the passage of time will also affect the extent to which the commission is able to obtain information and evidence. These are entirely ordinary considerations for law enforcement and investigative agencies to take into account when deciding whether to open investigations into allegations relating to historic conduct. You will see a bit of a running theme between my responses to these questions, which is that we are trying to preserve the independence of the commission to make its own decisions about what to investigate—who, when—without tying it up with great limitations.