Scott Morrison has ratcheted up his warnings against a powerful national anti-corruption commission, arguing handing control over to “faceless officials” could turn Australia into “some kind of public autocracy”.
Amid growing political pressure on the Coalition over its failure to meet its previous election promise to legislate a commonwealth integrity commission, the prime minister told the Nine newspapers politicians were accountable to voters at elections.
He argued that elected members should be able to allocate funding for infrastructure and community grants without undue fear of public servants investigating those decisions.
Former Judge of the NSW Supreme Court of Appeal Anthony Whealy QC at a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra, Tuesday, June 22, 2021.
59 eminent Australians, former Judges, and members of the legal fraternity have penned an open letter to Prime Minister Scott Morrison, calling for the urgent establishment of a National Integrity Commission, citing the Governments election promise to have such a body legislated within 12 months of taking office. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas) NO ARCHIVING
‘Massive policy failure’: retired judges blast Morrison’s broken promise on federal ICAC
Labor, which has promised to establish a national anti-corruption commission “with teeth” by the end of the year if it wins the 21 May election, said the comments showed Morrison’s “true colors are emerging now”.
The government is also facing pressure from “teal independents” who have placed an integrity commission alongside climate action at the center of their campaigns to unseat Liberal MPs.
The Liberal premier of New South Wales, Dominic Perrottet, said on Tuesday that Morrison “absolutely” went too far in describing his state’s anti-corruption watchdog as a “kangaroo court”.
In the new interview, published on Wednesday, Morrison played down the prospect of a compromise in the next term of parliament. He argued the government’s draft legislation – which he never introduced into the parliament for debate – was “very good”.
The prime minister said he understood why people wanted such a body at a federal level, but he also argued that if it were designed poorly “it could cause a lot of damage”. The prime minister said he was “trying to prevent a massive mistake”.
“The unintended consequences of an ill-thought-through integrity commission, I think are very dangerous,” Morrison said in the interview with the Nine newspapers.
“If we are going to so disempower our elected representatives to do things about what is needed in their communities, then what is the point?”
Morrison continued to argue that a new commission should focus on criminality rather than accusations of pork-barrelling.
“We can’t just hand the government over to faceless officials to make decisions that impact the lives of Australians from one end of the country to the other. I think there’s a great danger in that,” Morrison told the papers.
“It wouldn’t be Australia anymore if that was the case, it would be some kind of public autocracy.”
The shadow treasurer, Jim Chalmers, said Morrison’s latest comments showed the prime minister was never serious about legislating an anti-corruption commission.
“His true colors are emerging now,” Chalmers told ABC Radio National on Wednesday.
“This is what he thinks and he’s been lying about wanting a national anti-corruption commission this whole time. The only way to get one is to support Labor at the election on 21 May.”
The federal government’s proposed model, which was released as an exposure draft, was widely condemned as weak.
It could not conduct public hearings for government corruption, despite allowing such hearings for law enforcement matters, and sets a very high bar for investigations to commence.
Morrison is a longstanding critic of the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) over its investigation into the former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian’s secret relationship with MP Daryl Maguire and her alleged failure to declare a conflict while involved in grants for his electorate of Wagga Wagga. Berejiklian has denied any wrongdoing and ICAC is yet to hand down its findings.
After the NSW ICAC commissioner, Stephen Rushton, described critics who used the “kangaroo court” term, including the prime minister, as “buffoons” at a parliament inquiry on Monday, Perrottet used a press conference on Tuesday to throw his support behind the watchdog.
Perrottet said the ICAC “plays an important role in upholding integrity and confidence in politicians and public servants in our state”.
The premier underlined the need to raise any concerns “in a way that doesn’t undermine confidence in our integrity agencies”.
