Labor Will Introduce An Anti-Corruption Commission If It Wins The Next Election

Labor leader Bill Shorten is set to announce his party will support a national anti-corruption commission if it wins the next election.

It’s a significant move for Shorten and Labor. Just last year, the party’s position was simply to “investigate the merit” of an anti-corruption body. Even though most states have their own anti-corruption agencies, with NSW’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) being the most regularly cited example of a powerful and effective corruption buster, there’s no equivalent at a federal level.

The Greens have been campaigning for a national ICAC for years, but haven’t found much support from either of the major parties. Over the weekend Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce dismissed the need for a federal anti-corruption body, even though a survey showed corruption was on the rise in the federal bureaucracy.

Former Greens deputy leader Scott Ludlam has written an opinion piece in The Guardian today drawing on his own experiences in parliament to illustrate why he believes it’s time for a national anti-corruption body.

“Experience in New South Wales, where ICAC has carved a wide swath through rotten sections of the Liberal and Labor parties, shows that the scale and subtlety of corruption in Australia is well beyond the cash-in-a-paper-bag stage,” Ludlam said. “Investment decisions involving tens of millions of dollars rest on a queasy mix of revolving door politics, old boy networks and quiet understandings between people operating at the highest levels.

“The commonwealth has a role in regulating mining, gambling, land development and national infrastructure, as well as the disbursement of more than $460bn of your money annually. With the Turnbull government now proposing to start handing out billions of dollars to the arms industry in order to encourage some kind of carnage-led economic recovery, the stakes become even higher.”

Shorten is expected to release the details and timeline of his plan during his speech to the National Press Club in Canberra this afternoon. Since the Greens and most Senate cross-benchers support some kind of national anti-corruption body, it’s likely that if Labor won the next election it would have the numbers in parliament to establish one.

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Feature image via Bill Shorten / Facebook