By Tom Rabe
The head of the NSW corruption watchdog has warned that it remains under the control and influence of the state government due to unresolved funding issues, which he described as both inappropriate and unlawful.
In the same extraordinary budget estimates hearing, the state’s electoral commissioner said upcoming council elections could potentially fail and revealed last year he recommended the state government use a postal vote amid the pandemic.
ICAC Chief Commissioner Peter Hall, QC.Credit: Janie Barrett
Ongoing funding concerns of the two key NSW government agencies were detailed on Wednesday afternoon as Independent Commission Against Corruption Commissioner Peter Hall and the head of the state’s Electoral Commission John Schmidt fronted the parliamentary hearing.
Mr Hall outlined his long-held concerns over the funding arrangement between the ICAC and state government, which he said remained unsatisfactory and unlawful.
“The position has been made clear that funding under present arrangements is not only not satisfactory or appropriate, but it is not in accordance with law,” Mr Hall said.
“They identified the problem back in 2020/21, if they thought they fixed it, they didn’t. We’re still here with an independent commission meant to be protecting the public interest. However, that is still subject to control and influence from the executive government.”
Mr Schmidt said he had recommended in July 2020 the state government opt for a postal vote for this year’s council elections, which have already been postponed to December due to the Delta outbreak.
He said the election could potentially fail if voter turnout faltered due to the pandemic or if staffing and polling booth logistics fell short.
“If I’m not able to open polling places - elections could fail,” he told the hearing.
“So we’re having additional polling places to enable it to be social distancing and that’s good.”
Mr Schmidt said the state’s electoral systems were ageing, and underfunded and warned they could “fall over” if the commission were to attempt to simultaneously run standard local government elections with any potential byelection.
“There is a risk of course with COVID, that there may be further issues with the December local government elections,” he said.
Mr Hall described the ongoing funding situation as a “serious public interest issue” and raised concerns with the ministerial review into the matter.
“That review, as we understand it - we don’t have much information about it - has been ongoing now for some time,” he said.
He said the ICAC wanted to ensure the review led to a new funding approach which gave the NSW Parliament the role to fund the commission, and not the government’s executive.
Mr Hall said he was expecting to meet with NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian next month to discuss the review into its funding arrangements.
Ms Berejiklian was swept up in an ICAC scandal last year after she revealed she had been in a secret relationship with former Liberal MP Daryl Maguire, who resigned from politics amid corruption allegations and remains under investigation by the commission.
Greens MP David Shoebridge, who sat on the estimates hearing, said the government needed to introduce emergency laws to allow for a once-off postal election during the pandemic.
“The government has known since July last year that the local council elections could fall over because of the pandemic and they have failed to give the Electoral Commission the powers and resources needed to fix it,” he said.
The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.