Page 5136 - Week 13 - Thursday, 29 November 2018
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models that have been set up for integrity commissions in other jurisdictions. It seeks to answer the question of who watches the watchdog.
The bill before us today is lengthy and complex, but at its heart it is about setting high standards for conduct in public office and giving the community confidence that those standards are being met. Where corruption is identified, the community can be assured that those responsible will be identified and will be held accountable.
It has been an exhaustive process to get to this point, but one that highlights the best attributes of our Assembly. This is a strong piece of legislation, informed by public submissions through the committee process and worked on in a cooperative and collaborative manner by all parties in this place. As a result of that process, we have come to a very positive outcome, one that should give the people of the ACT greater confidence in politics and public administration in the territory.
I commend the bill to the Assembly and anticipate further discussion as we look to finalise the remaining details.
MRS DUNNE (Ginninderra) (4.55): I am very pleased to support this legislation. The Chief Minister said earlier today that the media often does not report on the legislation that has cross-party support in this place, but I suspect that this will be an exception to that rule, and a welcome one. This is extraordinarily important legislation. I have to confess that probably through until about 2014 I did not think legislation like this was entirely necessary in the ACT. I came slowly to the realisation during the last term of this Assembly that I was wrong. I am always prepared to put aside my views when I realise I am wrong. I am not going to stick to them doggedly just because I once had a stated view and I cannot possibly resile from it.
This is important legislation, and Mr Coe has touched on some of the issues that have highlighted just how important this legislation is. Those issues also highlight one of the concerns I had through the consultation phase on the draft bill that the government introduced, and I still have that concern. My principal concern is the way we deal with issues that have previously been investigated.
Mr Coe talked about a number of issues which I will touch on lightly because as the chair of the public accounts committee some of those issues fall to my remit. There has been public commentary from members in this place—not me—that some of the issues covered by the Auditor-General’s report are prime targets for being referred to a new integrity commissioner.
I am still not entirely satisfied with the construction of the legislation because I still think that there are impediments that even if issues are referred to the commission might prevent the commissioner from investigating. We need to make it very clear today that if people think that it is appropriate for an issue to be referred to the commission the fact that an issue has previously been investigated by, say, the Auditor-General or the pubic accounts committee, will not be an impediment to the commissioner taking up the matter if he thought it was sufficiently serious.
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