Thread by @docbaty

I’m going to keep banging on about government accountability until the next election, so let’s begin today’s reading of the @SatPaper with @KarenMMiddleton’s article: Federal integrity commission could cover Christian Porter’s blind trust.

thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/…

"Amanda Stoker, assistant minister to the attorney-general, has raised new questions about whether a federal integrity commission would cover Christian Porter’s blind trust”…

Lest we forget the story behind this statement, MP Christian Porter recently resigned from the front bench of the Morrison government in order to avoid declaring the names of donors who contributed to his defamation suit legal fees via a trust.

"“The commission that is currently in the exposure draft design would, I believe, enable an investigation into the source of those funds,” the conservative Queensland senator told ABC Radio in Brisbane."

The Government’s draft legislation, still not implemented over 1,000 days after being promised, has been roundly criticised by advocates for transparency, accountability, integrity & anti-corruption (including the @AustDems )...

"Porter quit the ministry last month after being unable to say who had paid his legal bills. He has recently renominated unopposed to recontest his marginal seat of Pearce for the Liberal Party at the coming federal election."

I think this is generous of @KarenMMiddleton . Porter was unwilling to ask the trust for the information, but that information is available. If he wished to satisfy the disclosure requirement, he could have done so; and he was quite explicit on that point.

"Stoker also advocated the proposed CIC hold public as well as private hearings. The current proposal divides the commission into two divisions. One, covering law-enforcement agencies, could hold public hearings. The other, covering other public-sector institutions, would not."

"Her comments appear at odds with the views of Prime Minister Scott Morrison and other colleagues, especially in New South Wales, who do not want the commission to examine events that occurred before it was established."

Given the way in which our current government has conducted itself over the past 8 years, I think it surprises absolutely no-one that they’re against a CIC that would have any kind of true power or teeth. Avoiding scrutiny and accountability is a deep-seated reflex.

"Victorian Liberal MP Russell Broadbent is advocating against public hearings but warning that the current proposed framework offers politicians too much protection from scrutiny.”

- Public hearings are an essential tool. They must for part of the new body’s toolkit.

Broadbent says: “The public interest must be paramount here. Politicians must be prepared to face scrutiny for their actions, just like anybody else.”

Actually, their scrutiny should be more than anybody else given their position of public responsibility.

Honestly, we’ve gone a long way down the path of treating public service in government as an entitlement with perks rather than a privilege with responsibilities.

"Many Liberals are angry that the processes of the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption sparked the resignation of then premier Gladys Berejiklian last week."

The criticism of the NSW ICAC has been disingenuous at best. The process of investigation ahead of a public hearing is meticulous. That one has been called to investigate Berejiklian should be alarming for what it indicates about her conduct.

"Morrison condemned the NSW model as one that could trash the reputations of innocent people.”

- really no surprise that the PM would take this stance.

"This week, the Centre for Public Integrity compared the proposed national model with those others and alternatives proposed by independent MP Helen Haines and the Australian Greens.

The centre declared the Coalition model “the weakest watchdog”."

"She [Stoker] described it [NSW ICAC] as “a monster” with “broad, sweeping powers of inquisition and compulsion”. She said it had seen lives destroyed over “trivialities”.”

- corruption in public office is not a triviality.

"Gladys Berejiklian is the third NSW Liberal premier after Nick Greiner and Barry O’Farrell to resign in relation to ICAC investigations. Neither of her predecessors faced any criminal charges."

I feel very strongly that our representatives be expected to act with the highest integrity. That’s not trivial; it’s central to the functioning of our democracy.