Few issues unite progressive and conservative voters. Ending corruption is one of the few exceptions.

Polling from the Australia Institute in 2023 found that 85 per cent of One Nation voters and 69 per cent of Greens voters reached the same conclusion – Australia has a corruption problem.

At the 2022 federal election, Australians across the political spectrum agreed that politics had issues with integrity. Secret ministries, carpark rorts and Robodebt left voters with a songbook of scandals and secrecy.

Public trust was badly eroded.

When the Coalition was booted from government, and the crossbench grew to historic heights, the message from voters was damning. They wanted the headlines of wrongdoing to end and integrity to be restored.

The Albanese Labor Party promised to legislate a National Anti-Corruption Commission. Before coming to government, Labor spoke forcefully about restoring integrity and strengthening Australia’s accountability framework. To its credit, it prioritised the creation of the NACC and delivered on that promise.

But integrity reform does not end with legislation. It lives or dies in how an institution operates — and whether it earns and keeps public trust.

And since its inception the NACC has fallen short.

The parliamentary joint committee on the National Anti-Corruption Commission provides one of the few........

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