Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

We have enacted the National Anti-Corruption Commission, and, if there are concerns of corrupt conduct in the National Disability Insurance Agency, they should be referred to the appropriate body for investigating that.

In terms of the Public Service more broadly, around gifts or anything received during a role as a public servant in dealings with others, there is a requirement to disclose those matters. The PGPA Act is there, of course, to provide legislative rules around appropriate conduct in a whole range of areas. I think departments take those responsibilities seriously, in terms of reporting through annual reports and attending estimates to be accountable for decisions that they may have made or, if they haven't provided appropriate transparency, to be held responsible for that. If they are, as Senator Payman says, corrupt dealings, then that is a matter for the National Anti-Corruption Commission. That would not be dealt with through the PGPA Act. I have no plans at this point to amend that act to incorporate the penalties that Senator Payman has outlined. The appropriate avenue and authority for investigating corrupt conduct in public office is the National Anti-Corruption Commission.