Senate votes to order Treasury to hand over report into ASIC deputy chair

The Senate has ordered a Treasury investigation into complaints about ASIC deputy chair Karen Chester be handed over by noon Thursday.

Former Chair of ASIC James Shipton and Deputy Chair Karen Chester appeared at the public hearing. Picture: Gary Ramage

The senate has ordered a Treasury investigation into complaints about Australian Securities and Investments Commission deputy chair Karen Chester be handed over.

In a vote yesterday, the Senate ordered Treasury to hand over the report to the Senate by 12pm Thursday.

It comes after several bruising hearings for the corporate regulator, which saw an investigation into Ms Chester ventilated before Senate estimates and committee hearings.

Ms Chester has confirmed there has been an investigation by law firm Gilbert and Tobin, on behalf of Treasury, concerning complaints made against her.

ASIC chair Joe Longo said the investigations, by Treasury secretary Steven Kennedy, found “many of the instances of alleged conduct (by Ms Chester) could be wholly or partially substantiated as to the fact specific things occured”.

However, Mr Kennedy concluded that there was “insufficient basis” for any further action to be taken.

Ms Chester told the committee she had been advised the report made “no adverse findings” against her.

Senator Andrew Bragg, who brought the motion, said the report should be handed over to ensure transparency and reveal the nature of the complaint.

“This has been a shameful saga for the corporate regulator. It commenced when ASIC refused to answer my questions about the investigation and correspondence from Treasury Secretary Steven Kennedy,” he said.

“How can ASIC be a respected and feared corporate regulator, when they cannot conduct their own internal activities with credibility and transparency? It is a national embarrassment.”

Mr Bragg said it was “untenable” for ASIC and Treasury to seek to keep the report confidential “where almost $200,000 of taxpayer funds were spent and the findings remain unknown”.

However, the government declined to support the motion, with senator Anthony Chisholm warning it would “inappropriate for a report into a confidential workplace investigation to be tabled”.

“Tabling such a report would represent a significant breach of privacy for the subject, complainant and witnesses, and could potentially act as a deterrent for any future complaints,” he said.

Mr Longo took a similar tone when appearing before parliament last week, noting the investigation looked at allegations that took place before his time at the top of the corporate regulator and he had “not seen any conduct by deputy Chester that concerned me”.

He told parliament reinvestigating the complaint or reopening the investigation would not be useful and he was keen to move on.

“I decided that I would not proceed with the formal investigation under the ASIC code of conduct at that time,” he said.

ASIC declined to comment.