Effective NACC ‘reset’ must include public hearings |
At the 2022 election, “integrity” was a big-deal issue. Then after winning government, Labor ticked off a promise when it set up the National Anti-Corruption Commission, which began officially in July 2023.
By now the NACC should be a well-functioning, well-respected body, kicking goals and enjoying public trust.
But, in an extraordinary irony, the NACC has become best known for “own goals”, rocked by internal scandals and attracting a litany of complaints.
This week things reached the point where its commissioner, Paul Brereton, announced his resignation – two years short of serving his five year term – declaring he had become “a distraction”.
A former NSW Supreme Court judge, Brereton came to the job with a formidable reputation, including having conducted the inquiry into allegations of Australian war crimes in Afghanistan. He looked an ideal candidate.
But at the commission he became embroiled in not just one, but two, conflict-of-interest issues.
In 2024 the Inspector of the NACC found Brereton had committed “officer misconduct” because he failed to adequately recuse himself when the commission was dealing with referrals from the Robodebt royal commission.
Brereton had had a professional relationship (through his senior position in the Army Reserve) with one of those referred, Kathryn Campbell, a former senior public servant.
Now another report from the Inspector of the NACC is soon to drop. It deals with Brereton undertaking consultancy work for the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force while in his NACC post.
“I think everyone contributes to their own downfall … in some ways and I am sure I have contributed to this in some ways” Brereton told a Senate estimates........