Independent Commissioner Against Corruption Bruce Lander in budget underspend spat

A new public row has erupted between the state’s anti-corruption chief and ministers over budgets and a taxpayer-funded inquiry into SA’s largest government agency.

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The state’s anti-corruption watchdog failed to spend his allocated taxpayer-funded budget for the past two years, official figures show, prompting the State Government to double down on its refusal to further fund inquiries.

The Advertiser revealed last year how the government had rejected Independent Commissioner Against Corruption, Bruce Lander QC’s request for $2 million to “evaluate” corruption at SA Health.

But a new war of words has erupted over its budget after it emerged it was “underspent” by at least $1.43 million since 2017.

ICAC Commissioner Bruce Lander. Picture: AAP Image/David Mariuz

In response to The Advertiser’s inquiries, the government released ICAC’s spending over 2017/18, which showed Mr Lander failed to spend at least $812,000 of his $13.56 million budget.

Treasurer Rob Lucas authorised Mr Lander to “carry over” a further $300,000 to the next year before he further failed to spend $919,000 from his $14.5 million budget.

ICAC’s current budget is $15.41 million. Mr Lander published a damning report into crisis-plagued SA Health last month amid claims of questionable practices at the $6.4 billion agency.

A public service taskforce into alleged corruption at the state’s biggest department was due to report to Premier Steven Marshall by Tuesday but its “advice” remains secret.

Mr Lucas said the new figures supported his ICAC budget stance, arguing the watchdog could have launched an SA Health inquiry years ago.

“My view, which I don’t resile from is … we believe he (Mr Lander) has more than enough funding to certainly look at all the corruption allegations that may or may not have been made … over the years in health,” he said.

“When he asked for an additional $2 million we said ‘enough is enough’. We are not going to reconcile from that no matter what sort of pressure is placed on us. It is up to him.”

Mr Lander, who last month angered senior members of government for revealing a private conversation with a “furious” Mr Marshall over his corruption report, said he had not considered any SA Health inquiry before July 2018.

The ICAC money has been returned to the government’s “general revenue” funds.

“The budget allocated to my office is expended entirely at my discretion,” he said. “I am strongly of the view that budgets must be adhered to.

“I make no apologies for underspending on our budget.

“The reality is at no time has my office had $2 million spare to conduct an evaluation of SA Health. If I had $2 million spare I would not have asked the government for it.”