The recently retired head of the Independent Commission Against Corruption has called for the establishment of a federal anti-graft agency with the powers of a standing royal commission, lamenting a grave "breakdown of trust" in the political process.

The comments of David Ipp, QC, come amid a sensational ICAC inquiry into the Liberal Party's alleged laundering of illicit campaign finance by routing cheques via Canberra, where there is no dedicated corruption-busting agency.

Proposal: Retired corruption commissioner David Ipp has called for a new federal anti-graft agency.

"It is so screamingly obvious that there is a breakdown in trust at the moment and that the only way of maintaining trust or recovering the trust is to demonstrate that there are adequate means of discovering corruption so that the public can be confident that what the government is doing is not tainted by dishonest behaviour," Mr Ipp told ABC-TV's Four Corners.

An investigation by the program has obtained a copy of the former Rudd-Gillard government's "National Anti-Corruption Plan 2013", prepared by senior officers of the Department of Attorney-General.