Federal politicians and officials who contemplate behaving corruptly or improperly should run the risk of getting NIC’d. Right now, they could be quite confident their wrongdoing would not come to light. It’s time Australia had a National Integrity Commission (NIC).

An under-resourced Australian National Audit Office is exposing rorts and, in one case, possible criminal behaviour, but its shrinking budget is forcing it to cut back on the number of audits it can do each year. Despite these budget cuts, the Audit Office has exposed the so-called sports rorts affair and the purchase of land at Badgery’s Creek for 10 times its market value.