By David Crowe
A national row over trust in politics will be used to galvanise campaigns against the Coalition in marginal seats after Prime Minister Scott Morrison abandoned a pledge to set up a corruption watchdog and blamed Labor for not supporting his preferred plan.
The moves ignited campaigns by Labor, the Greens and independents to claim the Coalition was weak on integrity because it would not honour Morrison’s promise before the last election to establish a powerful commission to investigate wrongdoing.
Prime Minister Scott MorrisonCredit: James Brickwood
Former judges rejected Morrison’s warning on Thursday about the danger of a “kangaroo court” that would tarnish reputations in public hearings, citing research showing the NSW and Victorian anti-corruption commissions looked into thousands of matters but held few public hearings.
Days after Labor leader Anthony Albanese could not name the unemployment rate at a campaign press conference, advocates for a corruption watchdog said Morrison had made a greater failure by refusing to commit to setting up an integrity commission in the next term of parliament.
“A memory blank is one thing but a policy blank on an integrity commission is much worse for democracy in Australia,” said former NSW Supreme Court judge Anthony Whealy, QC, the chair of the Centre for Public Integrity.
“The government has failed to introduce a federal integrity body after three years of promises and that is a colossal failure of policy.
“The excuse being offered that it will only be introduced if Labor supports the government’s model is a feeble one and won’t fool anybody who pays any attention to the issue.”
Morrison was asked on Wednesday whether he would try to set up a commonwealth integrity commission in the next term of parliament to act on his promise before the last election, but he would not commit to doing so and was asked on Thursday whether it was a broken promise.
“No, it is not,” he said while campaigning in Launceston.
“I am not going to introduce a kangaroo court. I am not going to introduce a policy that I don’t think is in the nation’s best interests. It would be corrupted by a Labor Party that’s more interested in playing politics with this issue than addressing the real issues.
“I put forward a detailed plan, a detailed proposal, which the Labor Party rejects. I have honoured my proposal. The Labor Party don’t support it. That is where the issue rests.“
A central dispute is Morrison’s stance that the federal body must not be given the sweeping powers held by state anti-corruption agencies to hold public hearings, act on tip-offs from the general public and issue public findings.
Labor launched a social media campaign on Thursday to tell voters the only way Australia would gain a federal anti-corruption commission was to elect a Labor government.
“The reason why this Prime Minister doesn’t want an anti-corruption commission is sitting on his frontbench,” Labor leader Anthony Albanese said on Thursday, saying the government was afraid of a watchdog that would investigate failures by its ministers.
“This Prime Minister just makes promises and walks away from them.”
Independent candidate Zoe Daniel, who is contesting Goldstein against Liberal assistant minister Tim Wilson, said the Prime Minister had made a “solemn promise” at the last election and was hiding behind a “smokescreen of obfuscation” rather than delivering on his promise.
“If elected, I will be fighting for a National Integrity Commission that is workable and effective,” said Daniel.
Independents including Kylea Tink in North Sydney, Monique Ryan in Kooyong, Sophie Scamps in Mackellar and Allegra Spender in Wentworth also signalled they would campaign on the issue, while the independent member for Indi, Helen Haines, said government MPs would be on the defensive.
“I don’t speak for other independents but I know for certain in the seat of Indi voters are talking to me about the integrity commission every single day,” said Haines, who put forward a bill for a stronger watchdog in a move the government rejected.
Kylea Tink talks to voters at a function at Northbridge Golf Club.Credit: Wolter Peeters
“I also know that at candidate forums and on the streets all over Australia, voters ask candidates what they would do for a robust federal integrity commission but government MPs and candidates will be left with nothing to say after this broken promise by the Prime Minister.”
With the independents basing their campaigns on integrity, climate change and equality for women, the government’s refusal to commit to set up the commission in the next term of Parliament could influence close contests in Liberal seats.
The Liberal member for Wentworth, Dave Sharma, said the “true test of integrity” for the independents was for them to declare which party they would support to form government in a hung Parliament.
“I’d like to see the independents address this issue before issuing their next set of demands,” he said.
Mr Wilson also said the “fake independents” should reveal which side they would support in Parliament.
In a sign of the power of the issue to influence the election, 70 per cent of voters want a commonwealth integrity commission.
The support crosses party lines, with 71 per cent of Coalition voters in favour while 69 per cent of Labor voters back the idea, according to a survey of 1603 eligible voters in the Resolve Political Monitor conducted from February 15 to 20. The findings had a margin of error of 2.5 per cent.
The February survey found that 23 per cent considered Morrison and the Coalition to be honest and trustworthy while 24 per cent backed Albanese and Labor. When the same question was put to 1618 eligible voters from March 30 to April 3, the Resolve Political Monitor found that 20 per cent thought Morrison and the Coalition to be honest and trustworthy while 21 per cent thought the same of Albanese and Labor.
Whealy, who described the federal government plan as the “weakest watchdog in the country” last year after the proposed commission was compared to state corruption authorities, questioned why the government did not do more to set one up.
“I think the inference is that they don’t want scrutiny and that, of course, therefore means that accountability and transparency and honesty are at risk,” he said.
Stephen Charles, QC, a former judge of the Victorian Court of Appeal and a director of the Centre for Public Integrity, said the government had been guilty of corruption in programs like the $100 million “sports rorts” fund and the $660 commuter car park scheme.
“That corrupt conduct was a breach of the law and an assault on democracy because it was the conduct of an unpopular government seeking to entrench itself in office through the misuse of public funds,” Mr Charles said.
“We need a proper integrity commission to stop both sides of politics engaging in this conduct.”
Morrison announced plans for a Commonwealth Integrity Commission in December 2018 but the plan stalled during 2019 and was not revived until December 2020, when the government released a draft bill and asked for input.
Experts and interest groups were overwhelmingly opposed to the draft bill, with the Australian Federal Police Association warning of “serious deficiencies” and the Police Federation of Australia saying it would treat police officers more harshly than politicians.
The Law Council said the government model would prevent any findings against a member of Parliament while University of Sydney law professor Anne Twomey said the bill was “absurdly long and complicated” with a model that was too weak.
The government considered whether to revise the draft at the end of last year but shelved the plan after the fall of NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian over an investigation into her former partner, which meant Morrison never introduced an integrity bill to Parliament.
The government argued in February it had run out of time to update the draft bill and act before the election.
The Centre for Public Integrity rejected Morrison’s claims that allowing public hearings would create a “kangaroo court” because its research showed most investigations by state commissions were private.
The centre found the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption launched 979 private examinations over the eight years to June 2020 but only held 42 public inquiries and only released 39 investigation reports.
Victoria’s Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission only held 8 public inquiries and released 14 investigation reports, the centre found, although the number of private examinations was not released.