Brereton is in the process of being vetted following a months-long search for an eminent legal mind to run the powerful new graft agency billed as a vehicle to weed out misconduct from national politics.
If he is confirmed in the position,he will take on the important role of running the NACC in its first years as it determines how aggressively it pursues corruption allegations into serving and former politicians in secret and or public hearings.
The government is also in the final stages of appointing deputy commissioners to the body the government hopes will be up and running in the new financial year. It will fulfil a key Labor pledge from the last election,after the Coalitionfailed to set up an anti-corruption body despite broad public support.
The appointment of Brereton,a former army major general who is a Member of the Order of Australia for service to the military,must be confirmed by a parliamentary committee of 12 MPs charged with monitoring the performance of the new federal corruption watchdog and approving senior appointments.
Transparency groups and other political parties attempted to ensure Labor did not have a majority of members on the joint select committee on National Anti-Corruption Commission legislation. But the Albanese government baulked at this demand,meaning Brereton’s confirmation is all but assured because the six Labor MPs – led by the chair,Senator Linda White,who has a casting vote – will seek to tick off on Dreyfus’ pick.
Brereton helmed the landmark four-year inquiry into alleged war crimes perpetrated by Australian soldiers in the Afghanistan war. In the probe’s final report delivered in 2020,he uncovered credible allegations that special forces soldiers committed 39 murders. The Morrison government established the$75 million Office of the Special Investigator to investigate if criminal charges should be laid.