Australia’s first anti-corruption commissioner has called for a 12-month deadline on major inquiries by the nation’s new integrity watchdog as part of stronger laws to allow for more public hearings, despite claims it could damage the reputations of politicians and officials.
Ian Temby, KC, said the time limit was the “price to be paid” for changes that would avoid repeating mistakes in the treatment of Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and former NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian by state commissions.
Ian Temby was the first Commonwealth director of public prosecutions and the first commissioner of the NSW ICAC.Credit:Jessica Hromas
“It is unconscionable that people against whom serious allegations are made, whether in the courts or in an anti-corruption commission, should be required to wait for a year or more before they know what the findings are,” he said.
Temby, who led the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption from 1989 to 1994, has put forward the 12-month deadline as part of a proposal to remove a controversial provision that says the federal watchdog will only hold public hearings in “exceptional circumstances” and the public interest.
Read more about that debate here.
Originally published at Sydney News HQ
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