Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity, Senator Bilyk, I present the report of the committee on its examination of the annual report of the Integrity Commissioner for 2021-22, together with accompanying documents. I seek leave to incorporate the chair's tabling speech into Hansard.

Leave granted.

The speech read as follows—

I rise as Chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity to speak on the Annual Report of the Integrity Commissioner 2021-22. I did speak to this report in the chamber on 9 February 2023 so my remarks may be similar in some places.

Under the Law Enforcement Integrity Commissioner Act 2006, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity has a statutory role to examine each annual report prepared by the Integrity Commissioner.

As part of this examination the committee held a public hearing on 8 February 2023 to speak with ACLEI about its performance over the reporting period 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2022.

The committee concluded that ACLEI performed well against its performance framework in 2021-22, achieving most of its performance targets. The committee report therefore focuses on those performance targets not met and the action being taken to address them.

The committee noted that as part of its performance measures ACLEI conducted its first biennial survey of jurisdictional agencies in the reporting period. The overall results were pleasing with 89 per cent of responders satisfied with their experience with ACLEI. However areas for improvement include timeliness such as the triage of ACLEl's assessment work.

Given the stakeholder survey results and the necessary preparation for the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), ACLEI has been focused on improving timeliness in assessment work and investigations. The committee was pleased to see the effort to reduce the backlog of investigation reports, particularly those over two years, but noted that this effort will need to be sustained given the number of matters that may be referred to the NACC.

ACLEl's contribution to the work on standing up the NACC was a natural focus of questioning from the committee at the hearing. Recruitment has been an ongoing issue for ACLEI in relation to some of the specialised skills required to conduct investigations. In addition, the committee notes the current tight labour market which may make attracting sufficient specialised skills a significant challenge for the NACC.

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

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