‘Bring it on’: PM challenged to deliver on anti-corruption pledge

Prime Minister Scott Morrison will be asked to deliver on his election pledge to create a federal agency to crack down on corruption after he corrected a senior cabinet minister who suggested the government had run out of time to act on the promise made three years ago.

In a test in Parliament on a national integrity commission, the government will be challenged to put what Labor describes as a “phantom” law to a debate and end years of waiting for the Commonwealth Integrity Commission announced in December 2018.

Scott Morrison insisted there is still time to act on the promise he made before the last election to set up an anti-corruption watchdog.Credit: Edwina Pickles

Victorian independent Helen Haines, who secured a brief majority in the House of Representatives last year for her bill to create a tougher federal watchdog, said the government should agree to a debate if it was serious about its election pledge.

“If the government wanted to, it could introduce it tomorrow,” she said. “If it has the bill, bring it on. Whatever the Prime Minister appears to be talking about seems to be a phantom to me.”

Mr Morrison insisted on Monday there was still time to act on the promise he made before the last election to set up the anti-corruption watchdog, even though there may be only 10 days for Parliament to meet before the election, due by May.

“The term is not completed yet,” he said when asked about a statement from Attorney-General Michaelia Cash to The Australian Financial Review that the government would not waste effort on the integrity bill when there was little time left in Parliament before the election.

Mr Morrison said “we’ll see” when asked if there was time to set up the integrity commission before May and said Senator Cash was talking about the limited time in Parliament this week rather than ruling out any action in this term.

But Labor accused him of breaking an election promise because he went to the last election promising to set up the new agency but is yet to put a draft law to Parliament for a debate, despite releasing a draft law for public comment early last year.

Shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus said the statement from Senator Cash meant the government was not delivering what it promised.

“The Attorney-General has today confirmed Scott Morrison cannot be trusted by the Australian people to establish a national anti-corruption commission,” he said.

“This is a government that lives in fear of accountability and what a powerful, independent, and transparent anti-corruption commission would reveal.

“It’s now clear that to stop corruption, you have to change the government.”

Labor is promising a national anti-corruption commission with the power to hold public hearings and the ability to issue findings of fact and findings of corrupt conduct in public reports.

As with the government policy, the Labor model would not allow the new agency to determine criminal liability because this would be a matter to be referred to the Australian Federal Police or the Commonwealth Department of Public Prosecutions.

Senator Cash responded to the Prime Minister’s remarks by saying the government was committed to passing the Commonwealth Integrity Commission bill but Labor had ruled out support.

“Should the Labor Party decide to stop playing politics on this matter and agree to pass our legislation, we would be happy to work with them to ensure quick passage through the Parliament,” a spokesman for Senator Cash said.

Dr Haines introduced her bill to Parliament last year with a plan for a tougher agency that could hold public hearings and issue public findings in the same way as state agencies such as the Independent Commission Against Corruption in NSW and the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission in Victoria.

Liberal backbencher Bridget Archer crossed the floor last year to support Dr Haines bring on a debate on her bill, raising the prospect of another challenge to the government’s numbers if Dr Haines tried again.

Matt GoldingCredit:

Ms Archer, the member for Bass in northern Tasmania, told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age she remained determined to get an integrity commission established.

“You don’t stick your neck out that far to suddenly pull it back in,” Ms Archer said. “I want to see something happen.”

Dr Haines, who represents Indi in northern Victoria, said she would try again to force a debate on the integrity commission after gaining support from Labor, the Greens and other crossbenchers last year.

”There is a majority right now in the House who want to see my bill debated,” she said.

“If the Prime Minister is fair dinkum about a debate on his bill, let him bring it on.”

South Australian independent senator Rex Patrick, who gained a majority in the Senate on the issue last year, challenged the government to add more sitting days to the parliamentary calendar to get the integrity commission established, saying it was more important than the argument over a Religious Discrimination Act.

“It is the government that drafts the sitting calendar and they can amend it to hold extra sitting weeks to deal with a federal ICAC, and I’m up for that,” said Senator Patrick.

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