Exclusive: Christian Porter writes to Mark Dreyfus saying national integrity commission may not be most effective option

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Christian Porter has given a strong indication the Coalition will not set up a federal independent commission against corruption, telling Labor there is no “persuasive evidence” that current methods of tackling corruption are insufficient.

The attorney general has written to his Labor counterpart, Mark Dreyfus, arguing that the establishment of a national integrity commission “may not be the most effective or efficient option”, suggesting any possible reforms will fall well short of an anti-corruption body with broad-ranging powers.

In January Labor promised to establish a national integrity commission, putting pressure on Malcolm Turnbull, who did not rule out following the opposition’s lead but asked Porter to conduct consultations.

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In March, Porter told Guardian Australia the government was investigating various options to strengthen anti-corruption efforts, including combining some existing bodies’ functions.

In a letter to Dreyfus dated 10 May responding to Labor’s offer of bipartisan cooperation, Porter said the government was committed to “ensuring the federal integrity framework is as robust as possible”.

“The Turnbull government does not consider that there exists any persuasive evidence indicating an insufficiency in the current multi-faceted approach to combating corruption,” the attorney general said.

Porter said that “multiple agencies at the federal level have specialised roles” in combatting corruption and misconduct, adding that the independent judiciary, democratic system, free media and civil society “also protect against corruption by enabling scrutiny of the public and private sectors”.

He said the government remained “open-minded” about other reforms and had still not ruled out a national integrity commission.

“However, whilst the establishment of a national integrity commission may be one option for strengthening our current arrangements, it may not be the most effective or efficient option.”

Dreyfus responded that Labor “does not agree” there is no evidence for a national integrity commission and recommitted to introduce one within 12 months of winning government.

“We believe the current system – despite many agencies doing important work – is fragmented and further coordination is worth pursuing,” he said.

Dreyfus said Labor was prepared to take “the important steps” to winning back public trust and “it’s disappointing that the government is not”.

Anti-corruption commissions are different to crime-fighting bodies because they function like standing royal commissions, with powers to compel testimony, and have an investigative role before charges have been laid by prosecutors.

Anti-corruption bodies at the state level have exposed allegations of serious corrupt conduct including the alleged creation of slush funds in the Victorian education department and in New South Wales revealed the practice of the Liberal party “washing” unlawful donations from developers.

In April a panel of legal experts called for a commission with far-reaching powers including the power to hold public hearings and broad jurisdiction to investigate all forms of corruption, not just criminal offences.

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In a briefing paper the Australia Institute’s panel of former judges argued that anti-corruption commissions’ ability to hold public hearings encourages witnesses to come forward with new evidence, generates new leads and deters others from engaging in corruption.

At that time one of the panel members consulted by Porter, the former chairman of Transparency International Anthony Whealy, said it was “almost impossible” to combine existing bodies which had different functions.

Despite its reluctance to create a standalone anti-corruption body, the Coalition government has set up separate bodies to investigate alleged wrongdoing by unions including the Registered Organisations Commission and the Australian Building and Construction Commission.

In March Labor suggested that the case of former Liberal MP Bruce Billson, who was censured for taking a $75,000 a year job with the Franchise Council of Australia in March 2016 which he failed to declare, proves the need for a national integrity commission.

In response Porter questioned whether an anti-corruption body would have jurisdiction to consider the case of former Labor senator Sam Dastyari, who resigned after revelations of his links to Chinese donor Huang Xiangmo.

The experience of anti-corruption bodies at the state level indicated this was “the worst possible area in which to engage in policy on the run”, he said.