Federal integrity body could kill political careers — or save them
Both sides of politics would benefit from being able to clear their name in an integrity-focused body rather than the witch-hunt star chamber of NSW ICAC where the mud sticks, Vikki Campion writes.
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The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption is to politicians what the
Royal Commission into Institutionalised Responses to Child Abuse was to priests and the Medical Review Board is to doctors.
But unlike medicos, who are exonerated in reports when innocent, and the child abuse commission which held 8013 private hearings, those wrongfully fingered in the NSW ICAC stand can wait years to be cleared.
It’s no surprise there is resistance within the old guard to create a federal ICAC.
Rather than the current system of fragmented agencies, a federal integrity body could save careers as well as kill them.
As a ministerial staffer for the Deputy Premier, as I was five years ago, fear of ICAC is healthily ingrained and you behave accordingly, which is why the behaviour of Daryl Maguire being an MP and somehow also a lobbyist is mind-boggling.
You stop your boss being alone with lobbyists — and certainly never leave them behind closed doors where a blowtorch by a donor could be applied.
The difference as a ministerial adviser in federal Government is stark. There is little transparency in federal Parliament where Ministerial diaries are not made public and require a Freedom of Information request.
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Lobbyists are so named after where they lurk — lying in wait outside offices until a Cabinet minister strolls off blue carpet where they can attach themselves to their ear like sucker fish on sharks. During the banking royal commission, lobbyists hung around the halls of parliament like it was their home. They leave little presents for a minister, such as bottles of booze or packets of cigarettes with their PAs.
They woo MP spouses and secretaries with gifts, befriending them, just to invite “both” out to dinner which, of course, they will pay for — nobody knows what was discussed, promised or planned or even that it occurred. By contrast, in NSW, even a flight upgrade is publicly disclosed, as well as all gifts of cumulative value of more than $500.
Staff of senior federal ministers struggle with managing meeting requests from donors, even when it has nothing to do with their portfolios. In state government, they wouldn’t even try.
Just having an ICAC creates a culture of integrity where donors and lobbyists realise they can’t buy policy.
Maybe that’s why the NSW ICAC targets debt-riddled idiots allegedly scamming chump change out of street corner hustles. What would have happened to some high profile federal players is a competent integrity commission had investigated their role in their respective scandals?
On Monday, Indi MP Helen Haines will introduce a 500-page bill into the House of Representatives to establish the Australian Federal Integrity Commission.
The Independent for Indi’s AFIC allows for private hearings and safeguards against vexatious or politically-motivated claims.
Dr Haines listened to what MPs on both sides of the house are afraid of — that smell of cellulite searing in tabloid headlines and losing everything in the long wait for a barely mentioned exoneration.
They want to have a framework of fairness and opportunity for a private hearing unless evidence outweighs risk to reputation.
Dr Haines proposes a robust integrity commission setting the same standards for all people — that’s journalists, donors, public servants, lobbyists and politicians — over all conduct that adversely affects the honest exercise of the parliament or induces officials to put private interest over public good.
As an independent, Dr Haines requires all the help in the world to have her bill debated in the house and eventually made law.
At least five people are expected to cross the floor in support.
Hopefully both sides can see the benefit in being able to protect themselves and clear their name in an integrity-focused body rather than a witch-hunt star chamber with a culture set to injudiciously scalp.