Federal Graft Fighter Needed - Opinion Piece - The West Australian

When shopping, the first thing many of us do when picking up a carton of eggs is to open up and check inside.

The hunt for bad eggs is repeated next to supermarket shelves every day — a quick turnover to search for cracks and we close the lid.

It is not unlike the work done by Western Australia’s strong, driven anti-corruption body — the Corruption and Crime Commission — or as we know it, the CCC.

The discovery of huge, organised and systemic corruption — the bad eggs — is a good thing.

Stay with me.

Like every West Australian I am disgusted when fraud is detected.

When the CCC does its job this also sends a strong message across the community when allegedly corrupt individuals get caught.

Federally, there is no corruption and crime commission. Nothing.

We have ombudsmen, oversight agencies, Federal police and huge intelligence and counter-terrorism agencies.

But no Federal corruption and crime commission.

A Senate inquiry into a national integrity commission in 2017 found the current system, “comprise a multiplicity of agencies, as well as other mechanisms and projects, resulting in a complex and poorly understood system that can be opaque, difficult to access and challenging to navigate.”

While I believe our Federal public servants are the best in the land, the chances of corrupt behaviour are higher in a larger public service.

If we need this oversight for WA’s 173,609 public servants then we definitely need it for the Commonwealth’s 242,100 public servants.

The royal commission into banking showed that we can’t trust banks to act ethically. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse showed cover-up after cover-up and the Australian National Audit Office has even noted that they do find evidence of possible misconduct or corruption in the course of their audits.

On the balance of probabilities, there are some undetected bad eggs in our Federal system. We just don’t know who or where.

Indeed the Commissioner of the Corruption and Crime Commission, John McKechnie QC, says himself: “While the vast majority of public servants, elected officials, and people or companies who interact or do business with them, are good, ethical people, a small number are not.”

It is that small number that can do devastating damage to our confidence in our government — especially if not detected and brought to justice.

Australians by our nature are inclined to think the best of others. But when dealing with public money we should be a bit more suspicious.

The Commonwealth Procurement policy notes that the Crimes Act covers procurement — but there are no specific investigative agencies other than the Federal Police.

This loose accountability does not make sense in an age of big data and advanced analytics for fraud detection.

The Prime Minister has taken one small step by finally forcing public servants to publicly register the gifts and hospitality they receive.

But with the Commonwealth contracting billions of dollars each year, and some 35 per cent of that aiming to be from small to medium enterprises, the scope for fraud and corruption is there.

And the political class need to be leaders, not part of the problem.

Look at the ongoing concerns over Julie Bishop taking a board role with an aid organisation her government gave millions of dollars to when she was a minister.

And the controversy with former defence minister and South Australian Christopher Pyne taking a role as a defence partner at EY just a month after he left government.

Voters want integrity, a free press and that governments do not obstruct the truth.

A Federal CCC or independent commission against corruption is central to the drive for integrity and openness.

Unfortunately, the Morrison Government has left development of such a body with Attorney-General Christian Porter — who so far has been vague on when legislation will be introduced and outlined a model which has been criticised as weak.

The McGowan Government’s reforms to broaden the powers of the CCC have meant the body has been able to weed out these bad eggs.

It was a mistake that Labor did not introduce a Federal independent commission against corruption when last in office.

It is a mistake that the Morrison Government should not repeat.

Patrick Gorman is the Federal Labor Member for Perth.

This piece was originally published in by The West Australian on Wednesday, 18 December 2019.