IT’S been a bad couple of weeks for commissioners.

And while most of the focus has been on the actions of Treaty Commissioner Mick Dodson, the performance of Ken Fleming QC and the Independent Commission Against Corruption he presides over deserves serious scrutiny.

Most Territorians welcomed the Gunner government’s decision to establish the ICAC after it won power in 2016.

The Territory is small place, dominated by a large and powerful public service.

Those two facts make it a jurisdiction that is potentially rife for corruption.

Government jobs for mates, the inside running for a government contract, a favour for a friend or family member in trouble.

These are the sort of accusations that have long existed in the Territory, and until the ICAC was established there appeared few avenues to properly investigate them.

It was hoped the ICAC would get to the bottom of serious corruption allegations in an independent, professional manner without becoming a politically-motivated media sideshow, as had occurred with the Stella Maris inquiry.

It was meant to act as both a deterrent to corrupt behaviour and a means to uncover it.

But in the two-and-a-half years since it was established the Commission has scored more own goals than actual ones.

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Its first major blunder came when Mr Fleming attended a protest rally in Alice Springs following the shooting death by police of an Indigenous man.

Mr Fleming had been tasked with overseeing the police investigation.

He got hold of the microphone and told the crowd: “One of the most important things today is black lives matter. Anybody who says contrary to that is guilty of corrupt behaviour.”

He had to be removed from that oversight role.

Many people have since wondered what on earth the Commissioner was doing, most notably former attorney-general Daryl Manzie who called for his resignation.

And while his comments in Alice Springs caused the most controversy, that was just one of a series of seemingly odd public statements from a man who holds a position of such power and authority.

For the past two years the ICAC Commissioner has conducted radio interviews where he has made grand statements about reports his Commission is about to deliver.

Last September, he told the ABC the ICAC was close to releasing a report that would have serious ramifications.

“There could well be a major report coming out again by about November and it may just fill all of your expectations and longings,” he said.

Seven months later we’re still waiting.

Mr Fleming has some defence when it comes to these public statements.

Part of his brief is that he performs a public advocacy role, informing Territorians of the roles and powers of the ICAC.

But it’s surely time to question the appropriateness of this part of the job.

It might be better to have an ICAC Commissioner who is occasionally seen, but heard from only when releasing the findings of an investigation.

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This is not the only issue with the operation of the ICAC.

If a matter is referred to the ICAC and the ICAC begins an investigation it can – and sometimes does – issue a gag order on the person who has made the report.

The reason for this is understandable.

It’s no small thing to be accused and investigated for corruption.

Yet this rule seems to be applied inconsistently.

In February, Chief Minister Michael Gunner referred text messages from Blain MLA Mark Turner to the ICAC, then told parliament a month later Mr Turner was under ICAC investigation.

If Joe Public can’t say that a matter they have referred is being investigated by the ICAC, then Michael Gunner shouldn’t be able to either.

There are further issues with politicians referring matters to the ICAC.

It’s easy to see how this process can be manipulated for political cover.

A politician can simply refer a scandal to the ICAC, then avoid any subsequent questions about the matter because it’s the subject of an ICAC investigation.

By the time an investigation is complete, the political storm will likely have passed.

Sadly, the ICAC’s biggest blunder came this week.

The Commission was forced to issue a grovelling apology to two women on Wednesday after damning them in a report and accompanying press release a day earlier.

In one woman’s case, she was denied natural justice after her response to allegations of corrupt conduct ended up in the ICAC’s junk mail folder.

This makes you wonder what else might have ended up in the junk mail over past two years, but more importantly, why nobody bothered to make contact with the woman to ask if she was sure she didn’t want to respond before releasing a report that was going to label her corrupt.

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Defamation law expert Justin Quill from Thomson Geer Lawyers says the error could cost the government hundreds of thousands of dollars.

It should also see some serious questions asked of the ICAC.

Mr Gunner had to write to the Treaty Commissioner last week to tell him he had lost his confidence.

Less than a week later he was being asked on Mix FM if he still had confidence in the ICAC Commissioner.

His answer suggested that confidence is waning.

This was a serious error, Mr Gunner said, and Mr Fleming has already announced he will be leaving the role in July.

That might be a good point to review how the ICAC operates, because at the moment it appears to be doing more harm than good.