Barnaby Joyce is continuing to insist that the political system works in the absence of a federal anti-corruption body, but he has signalled he is open to alternative views.



On Sunday, the deputy prime minister dismissed the idea of forming an independent anti-corruption watchdog to oversee federal politics, saying the Senate already performs the function well.

Joyce’s declaration came before a commitment by the Labor leader, Bill Shorten, to establish an integrity commission to investigate and expose corruption and misconduct at the federal level in a year-opening speech on Tuesday at the National Press Club.

The prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, while criticising Shorten and questioning his bona fides on anti-corruption issues, has not ruled out supporting an integrity commission and has indicated the government is considering its position.

The attorney general, Christian Porter, said the government was “not closed-minded to this concept” but he said definitional issues were important and any change would have to be subjected to wide-ranging consultation.

“People’s careers have ended because there’ve been public hearings, of which not much has eventuated, so finding a body that operates in a way that actually improves the detection and enforcement is the key here, and at the moment we have a range of bodies that are doing a very good job,” Porter told the ABC on Wednesday morning.

He dismissed Shorten’s overture on Tuesday as a “headline-grabbing exercise.”

Joyce faced questions from reporters on Wednesday about his attitude to a national integrity commission, given what he said on Sunday, Shorten’s announcement and the subsequent comments from the prime minister and Porter.

The deputy prime minister continued to insist that the current system worked effectively and had “managed to flesh out issues like Sam Dastyari”.

He said the departure of Dastyari from politics after controversy about his dealings with Chinese donors showed “our capacity to get to the bottom of issues as things stand”.

But he also attempted to reposition, insisting that the system worked well at the moment but, if there were other ideas, then he would be “happy to look at them”.