It’s the ultimate conflict of interest: governments accused of corruption in Australia can stop funding the very organisations tasked with investigating said corruption.
Such is the funding model for integrity bodies across the country. And it’s a conflict our governments appear to have no problem abusing.
Take Victoria. The ombudsman Deborah Glass has accused the Andrews government of not providing enough funding for the integrity watchdog to perform its core duties — something she says could be perceived to be undermining the agency.
Glass so happens to be investigating alleged branch stacking by Victorian Labor MPs and a former Andrews minister Adem Somyurek.
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But she’s not the first watchdog in the state to raise funding concerns. Robert Redlich QC, commissioner of Victoria’s Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC), said in July that a shortage of resources could hamper its ability to complete a growing list of tasks — one of which is another investigation into the branch-stacking scandal.
And it’s not just Victoria seemingly trying stamp out accountability from the source.
As Crikey reported in October, the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) pleaded with Premier Gladys Berejiklian for extra funding — at the same time it was investigating her secret relationship with former MP Daryl Maguire.
She was not forthcoming. The commission warned that if it did not receive more money it would be forced to reduce the organisation to its smallest size in its 30-year history.
Also in October, the federal government slashed $14 million from the budget of the Australian National Audit Office, the agency that has uncovered some of the biggest corruption scandals this year, including sports rorts and the Leppington Triangle deal.
Starving a watchdog meant to investigate your government’s misconduct undermines the independence of that organisation. That’s something the NSW government knows well, with a report by Auditor-General Margaret Crawford last month finding the current funding model threatened the ability of agencies to do their job.
But with scandal after scandal emerging, thanks largely to the work of the agencies, surely that’s the point?
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Try not to be too ironic, it can normalize the evil
Underfunding/staffing is SOP and has been for decades.
That is missing the point. Reducing the funding for NSW ICAC to the lowest in all its 30 year history is a significant move, not just business as usual, and should not be shrugged off.
I’m not shrugging off this specific form of corruption .
Lobbying needs to happen to take away funding from a source that cannot be corrupted.
Arew you saying the relevant governments lobby themselves to defund their commissions?
Maybe there are scandals across the country. But Government aren’t getting too much rocked about it all..A few ripples, a bit choppy, but overall the smoothings n smoochings of the mutual vested business as usual interests, are taking it, and making it, in their stride…
What is the point of commisions and the like when nothing comes out of any misdeeds that they find?
BTW, Slightly off topic, but how about the findings of the inquiry into the bushfire started by that Army helicopter?
The chopper landed for “a short break”, somebody needing a peetree or lavatree perhaps.
The chopper landing light sets fire to the grass and starts a fire eventually causing fatalities and property loss.
The chopper jockey takes off rapidly when they finally notice their arse is on fire.
They call a Pan Pan message on the radio notifying of aircraft damage, but despite having a working radio and the mike in their hand do not tell anyone about the bushfire, now well alight and blown everywhere, from the takeoff downwash.
45 Min. later they land at base and tell someone about the fire!
During this time the Firefighters were trying to find the fire, and had they been alerted earlier could possibly have limited it’s spread.
What does the Minister of Defense ond other “authorities” say about all this?
“THEY DID NOTHING WRONG AND WERE CONCERNED FOR THE SAFETY OF THE AIRCRAFT”.
What a load of BS.
They could have advised the fire over the radio. They could have said that they saw it and not even admitted they started it. Giving time for the Military and Pollie spindoctors time to come up with some cover bullshirt.
It would seem someone very important was flying that chopper, and or the ADF were panic stricken at the thought of compensation likely to result.
Now just suppose where would you or I be had we accidentally caused that fire, I’ll bet we would have bars on our window.
“What is the point of commisions and the like when nothing comes out of any misdeeds that they find?”
I’ve been wondering that as well. If they did not exist very little would change – though let’s not ignore their occasional successes. Still, why not save a few dollars by abolishing them all?
I think the answer is that the various governments do not much enjoy the public clamour to set up a corruption commission that erupts when there is none. So the aim is to have a facade carrying the name “corruption commission”, and maybe even a handful of tame inquiries into matters that don’t worry the government, but no more. That should be enough to muddy the waters and put off most of the demands for a real corruption commission, and it can be given the blame for not doing something when the public moans about some scandal. Call it ‘striking the right balance’. Christian Porter is trying to go one better with his federal corruption commission, which would provide a means for corrupt politicians to control the scope and bury the findings of investigations into their own conduct. So Porter’s new model commission is actually designed to facilitate corruption rather than combat it. It’s rather clever.
The rest of your post is not ‘slightly off topic’. It is completely irrelevant, without any connection at all to the funding of corruption commissions.
Well I got it off my chest anyway.
Look on the bright side. At least we know now that our mighty military eventually notice when their back end is on fire.
Probably only noticed when the aircraft fire alarm sounded