By Paul Sakkal
The judge who led the investigation into alleged Australian war crimes in Afghanistan is expected to be the Albanese government’s pick to head the first federal anti-corruption body.
NSW Court of Appeal Justice Paul Brereton has been nominated by Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus to run the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), according to senior federal sources not authorised to speak publicly because the appointment has not been publicly confirmed.
Justice Paul Brereton has been nominated to run the National Anti-Corruption Commission, according to a source.Credit: Edwina Pickles
Brereton is in the process of being vetted following a months-long search for an eminent legal mind to run the powerful new graft agency billed as a vehicle to weed out misconduct from national politics.
If he is confirmed in the position, he will take on the important role of running the NACC in its first years as it determines how aggressively it pursues corruption allegations into serving and former politicians in secret and or public hearings.
The government is also in the final stages of appointing deputy commissioners to the body the government hopes will be up and running in the new financial year. It will fulfil a key Labor pledge from the last election, after the Coalition failed to set up an anti-corruption body despite broad public support.
The appointment of Brereton, a former army major general who is a Member of the Order of Australia for service to the military, must be confirmed by a parliamentary committee of 12 MPs charged with monitoring the performance of the new federal corruption watchdog and approving senior appointments.
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus in question time earlier this month.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Transparency groups and other political parties attempted to ensure Labor did not have a majority of members on the joint select committee on National Anti-Corruption Commission legislation. But the Albanese government baulked at this demand, meaning Brereton’s confirmation is all but assured because the six Labor MPs – led by the chair, Senator Linda White, who has a casting vote – will seek to tick off on Dreyfus’ pick.
Brereton helmed the landmark four-year inquiry into alleged war crimes perpetrated by Australian soldiers in the Afghanistan war. In the probe’s final report delivered in 2020, he uncovered credible allegations that special forces soldiers committed 39 murders. The Morrison government established the $75 million Office of the Special Investigator to investigate if criminal charges should be laid.
Dreyfus’ office declined to comment.
Brereton’s associate at the NSW Court of Appeal did not directly respond to questions about his nomination. “Justice Brereton has not authorised any comment,” the associate said in a written statement.
Geoffrey Watson, SC, a former counsel assisting the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption and a proponent for a national corruption body, said the inaugural commissioner had a significant role.
“They will set the culture for the place; whether it is a dynamic force, whether it is efficient, whether it moves swiftly to deliver a report,” Watson said.
“There are still grey areas about the jurisdiction. The original commissioner will be the person who tests that, who may challenge or extend the jurisdiction. I’m hoping it will be an aggressive organisation.”
A merit-based recruitment process to pick the NACC commissioner began in October last year with a publicly advertised call for applicants and a shortlist of candidates assessed by a panel chaired by the secretary of the Attorney-General’s Department.
The legislation underpinning the NACC requires the commissioner and deputy commissioners to be either retired judges or have a minimum of five years’ experience as a legal practitioner in a court.
Commissioners will serve five-year terms.
Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter here.