Page 5127 - Week 13 - Thursday, 29 November 2018
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There are many people that I would like to thank, but I will wait until we have dealt with the amendments before I do that, other than to say that there has been a huge amount of work that the government, the opposition in particular, and also the Greens have put into this legislation. I am grateful for the collaborative way that these negotiations and communications have taken place.
Whilst it has been slightly rushed over the past few days and I am sure that some people are a bit deterred by the number of amendments that we have today, the reality is that it is very hard to get amendments drawn up when you actually do not get the legislation until the Tuesday before a Thursday debate. As such, it was very difficult to get amendments written with the confidence that the version that we were working off would in fact be the presented bill in the Assembly on Tuesday. I thank members for their consideration of these amendments. I very much urge the Assembly to accept them.
MR RAMSAY (Ginninderra—Attorney-General, Minister for the Arts and Cultural Events, Minister for Building Quality Improvement, Minister for Business and Regulatory Services and Minister for Seniors and Veterans) (4.26): As Attorney-General, I am pleased to be speaking today about the work that we are doing in this area from the perspective of the first law officer. The government is delivering on the ACT Labor election promise and the parliamentary agreement commitment to establish an integrity commission for the ACT. This bill represents the culmination of two Assembly committee inquiries, extensive submissions and evidence, and the considered input from all sides of politics.
The bill’s establishment of an ACT integrity commission is the centrepiece of a package of measures that ensure the integrity and the accountability of the ACT public service and the Legislative Assembly. The Electoral Amendment Bill 2018 is the second part of this package. That electoral amendment bill will ban political donations from property developers or their associates and implement a year-round requirement for political entities to report gifts and loans. These reforms will strengthen and safeguard our democratic institutions from undue influence and corruption.
The introduction of both the Integrity Commission Bill and the Electoral Amendment Bill reflects this government’s commitment to ensuring the probity, transparency and professionalism of our public sector and the integrity of our democratic system of government. As previously explained by the Chief Minister, the bill delivers on these principles by providing the integrity commission with jurisdiction to investigate corrupt conduct in the executive government and the Legislative Assembly.
The bill before us today provides for the integrity commission to investigate judicial officers. This gives effect to a recommendation of both select committee reports released in 2017 and 2018. The select committee considered it essential for the integrity commission to have jurisdiction to investigate allegations of corruption across all three arms of government.
It is self-evidently true that the public wants the full confidence in the judicial system and our judicial officers. The ACT Judicial Commission and Judicial Council were
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