Integrity Commission far from broken, but needs more funding, Greg Melick says
The Integrity Commission pleads for doubling of funds after its chief revealed there wasn’t enough money to handle the workload.
Tasmania
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The Tasmanian Integrity Commission requires at least a doubling of its $3.7 million annual funding for it to manage a skyrocketing caseload, Commissioner Greg Melick has told a parliamentary committee.
Mr Melick also said the Commission could not currently afford to pay staff what they deserved, resulting in a leakage of talented personnel to other government agencies.
Appearing before the Joint Standing Committee on Integrity on Friday, Mr Melick said the Integrity Commission had approximately half the budget of equivalent bodies in the Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory, despite Tasmania having a larger public service.
“There have been significantly increased demands placed upon us for the last 12 months,” he said.
“During the period of the annual report, we’ve had twice the number of notifications, we had the Commission of Inquiry, we’ve taken on the lobby register, and overall we’ve become more sophisticated in the way in which we approach many of the issues we’re dealing with.
“But this has come at the cost.
“We’ve got very professional staff, and I cannot commend them highly enough for the work they’ve been doing.
“But the issue is we just don’t have enough money to do it.”
Mr Melick said the Commission was far from broken, and nominated the fact that 22 MPs had undertaken its parliamentary training program as a highlight of the last financial year.
But he said that without an appropriate budget boost, the oversight body could simply not keep doing its job.
“It’s a matter for parliament to decide what sort of Integrity Commission they want, and what they want us to be able to undertake,” the Commissioner said.
“But if we keep going this way, we are going to find it difficult to keep our good staff.
“And if we’re going to continue to do investigations in a timely manner, we do need more funding.”
Originally published as Integrity Commission far from broken, but needs more funding, Greg Melick says
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