In my previous article about the state of the Australian government, titled “The Australian Government is Corrupt” – no rewards for guessing what I think about our elected officials – I touched on the idea for legislation of an anti-corruption watch dog, in order to keep everyone in Canberra in check. Throughout this article I praised the politicians speaking up on this issue and those bringing more light to it, because I deemed it a positive step forward. However, I did also say this:“in order to get support from their colleagues they [may] have to start weakening [the bill] until the whole bill is toothless”.
I hate to be right in situations like this, because it will negatively impact Australian’s (including myself) in the long run, news has come out that this bill is watered down so much so that it isn’t worth the paper its printed on. In Australia states already have anti-corruption commissions which have the ability to conduct public hearings and make findings of corruption in the public sector, except Canberra which is where all the politicians do their dirty work. States have what is known as an, Independent Commission Against Corruption or ICAC, which as I said have broad reach, can investigate, hold hearings and prosecute corruption within itself, which is exactly what people like me want to have in our Parliament. The new proposal is called Commonwealth Integrity Commission (bit Orwellian in my humble opinion), and it has the power to; hold hearings (with law enforcement permission), make findings public (with law enforcement permission and will be able to prosecute (just kidding, they have to pass on prosecution to Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, essentially you guessed it law enforcement).
This legislation does not go far enough, I don’t want some be all end all of corruption, all I want is the same standards for the politicians as they give to anyone else, for instance an ICAC for Canberra so they can be held accountable for similar wrongdoings as those that work under them. Credit where credit is due, at least anti-corruption has come into the spot light, albeit for a very short time. Although, more is needed to be done after “Australia has failed to improve on its record low ranking in a global measure of government corruption.” Make no mistake about it, this bill will not change our score, of which has been on a steady decline since 2012.
References:
The proposed National Integrity Commission is a watered-down version of a federal ICAC
https://theconversation.com/the-proposed-national-integrity-commission-is-a-watered-down-version-of-a-federal-icac-108753
Australia's global corruption ranking sparks urgent calls for federal integrity body
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jan/29/australias-global-corruption-ranking-sparks-urgent-calls-for-federal-integrity-body
The Australian Government is Corrupt
https://steemit.com/australia/@angusadams/the-australian-government-is-corrupt