Attorney-General Christian Porter with former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
In a tactical decision to avoid a formal division on a vote it would lose,the government made no objections when the House of Representatives agreed to the Senate resolution,although this does not mean it has approved a new law.
Mr Porter warned that the bill was worded in such a way that it meant any public official could be declared corrupt over minor issues like administrative irregularities.
“Hundreds of thousands of civil servants would potentially be declared corrupt for the most minor matters,” he told Parliament.
Mr Porter said that under one part of the crossbench 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,adding that turning a breach of these codes into a trigger for a corruption inquiry could set the bar too low.
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.”