Mr Porter said that under Section 8 of the bill,anything that any official did that might"impair public confidence"in the public service might also be branded as corrupt.
"There are eight codes of conduct across the public sector for a variety of departments and agencies,"he said.
"If you transform breaches of those codes of conduct,which impair public confidence in the Commonwealth,which,frankly,could be just about everything,you are ensuring that what are minor civil matters and employment matters at the moment,in the Commonwealth public sector,move to the realm of corrupt conduct.
"All you need to do is read what is before this Parliament to understand how excessive and how dangerous it is.
"Let me note,also,that the most astonishing thing about this bill is everything that I have described has retrospective application."
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As an example,Mr Porter cited an October 2017 report on the ABC by the public broadcaster’s political editor,Andrew Probyn,which described former prime minister Tony Abbott as the most"destructive politician of his generation"and which was then the subject of a complaint to the Australian Communication and Media Authority.
"Under this bill before the House,no ifs and no buts,Andrew Probyn would be found to have committed corruption,"Mr Porter claimed.
"Misdrafting can have such a massive over-reach in this area,” Mr Porter said.
Transparency International Australia non-executive director AJ Brown,a professor of public policy and law at Griffith University,said Mr Porter’s warning was based on a broad reading of the definition of corruption.
The National Integrity Commission Bill 2018 uses the same definition of corruption applied by the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption and which had been tested in the High Court.
Professor Brown said the definition refers to"honest and impartial exercise of official functions"but was generally applied to officials to prevent them from favouring contractors,rather than being applied to journalism.
"I’m not sure the definition needs tailoring for the Commonwealth but it is something that could be clarified fairly easily,” he said.
"It’s legitimate to raise questions that reinforce the need for safeguards.
"But this emphasises that if the government has a definition of corrupt conduct it believes should be operationalised,then it should put it on the table."
An open letter from 34 former judges issued on the weekend urged Prime Minister Scott Morrison to set up a"strong,effective and independent"national integrity commission.
Ms McGowan told Parliament that the bill had to be retrospective because corruption in the past could not be ignored,telling Mr Porter that he should come forward with a proposal to set up a commission.
"Truly,it’s only the government stopping this happening,” she said.
Ms Sharkie urged Mr Porter to propose a solution rather than criticising the crossbench proposal.
"I urge the Attorney-General,for goodness sake,lead from the front on this,” Ms Sharkie said.
"If you are not going to listen to us,if you are not going to listen to the crossbench,if you’re not going to listen to the Australian people,for goodness sake,why don’t you at least listen to 34 eminent former High Court and Federal Court justices."