The Integrity Commission was established in 2010 to deal with complaints about public sector misconduct.

History

In 2009 the Bartlett Labor government passed the "Integrity Commission Act 2009 (Tas)" which established Tasmania's Integrity Commission, with a commencement date of 1 October 2010.

Murray Kellam Murray Byron Kellam was formerly a judge of the County Court of Victoria in Australia before being appointed as a judge on 28 January 1998 to the Supreme Court of Victoria, the highest ranking court in the Australian State of Victoria. He was a ...

was chief of the Commission from 2010 to 2015. When he stepped down, Kellam was critical of the

Tasmanian Government The Tasmanian Government is the democratic administrative authority of the state of Tasmania, Australia. The leader of the party or coalition with the confidence of the House of Assembly, the lower house of the Parliament of Tasmania, is invite ...

for failing to create the offence of misconduct in public office. Kellam was replaced as chief by Greg Melick in August 2015. The commission reported receiving 126 complaints in their 2016–17 annual report and 193 complaints in their 2017–18 report.

Reviews

In 2015 the Joint Standing Committee on Integrity of the Tasmanian Parliament completed a review of the Commission. Pursuant to section 107 of the legislation covering the Commission, a 5 year review of the operation of the Commission is required. William Cox,

Governor of Tasmania The governor of Tasmania is the representative in the Australian state of Tasmania of the Monarch of Australia, currently King Charles III. The incumbent governor is Barbara Baker, who was appointed in June 2021. The official residence of the ...

from 2004-2008 and former Chief Justice of the

Supreme Court of Tasmania The Supreme Court of Tasmania is the highest State court in the Australian State of Tasmania. In the Australian court hierarchy, the Supreme Court of Tasmania is in the middle level, with both an appellate jurisdiction over lower courts, and de ...

was appointed to conduct the review in November 2015 and it was presented in May 2016. This review made 55 recommendations of which 49 remained unimplemented in March 2022.

Criticism

Responding to the Kellam's comments when he left the commission in 2015,

Lara Giddings Larissa Tahireh "Lara" Giddings (born 14 November 1972) is a former Australian politician who was the 44th Premier of Tasmania from 24 January 2011 until 31 March 2014, the first woman to hold the position. Born in Goroka, Papua New Guinea, she ...

, the shadow attorney-general noted that their budget had been cut by 20% in the previous year which they saw as showing a lack of support for the Integrity Commission. In 2018 leader of the

Tasmanian Greens The Tasmanian Greens are a political party in Australia which developed from numerous environmental campaigns in Tasmania, including the flooding of Lake Pedder and the Franklin Dam campaign. They form a part of the Australian Greens. The party ...

Cassy O'Connor Cassandra Stanwell O'Connor (born 1 April 1967) is an Australian politician, who has been a Tasmanian Greens member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly since 2008, representing the electorate of Division of Denison which was renamed to Clark in ...

, was critical of the practice of referring complaints back to the relevant department, saying: In 2019 Geoffrey Watson , former council assisting the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, argued that it was "disturbing" that the Integrity Commission has never conducted public hearings and criticised the failure to make commission reports public. Watson was also critical of the requirement for complaints to be made in writing, in contrast to other Australian jurisdictions. In March 2022

The Australia Institute The Australia Institute is a left-wing public policy think tank based in Canberra, Australia. Since its launch in 1994, it has carried out research on a broad range of economic, social, and environmental issues. The institute has offices in Ca ...

published a report critical of the Commission finding that it ranked poorly in a number of areas and is one of the weakest anti-corruption bodies in Australia. The author of the report argued that public hearings are needed to demonstrate that justice is being done and noted that there had been no public hearings since the founding of the Commission. They also noted that there had been references to the Integrity Commission during the last 2 election campaigns that were unable to be investigated as rules prevent the investigation of elected members once an election campaign is underway.

Kristie Johnston Kristie Joy Johnston (born 22 December 1980) is an Australian politician. She was elected as the Mayor of City of Glenorchy in 2014 and 2018 and is an Independent member for the seat of Division of Clark, having been elected in the 2021 Tasmania ...

, independent member for the seat of the

Division of Clark The Division of Clark is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of Tasmania, first contested at the 2019 federal election. Geography Federal electoral division boundaries in Australia are determined at redistributions by a redistribut ...

, said that there is "snowball's chance in hell that this government will move to reform and strengthen the Integrity Commission in Tasmania" and Cassy O'Connor said "It has been in the Gutwein Government's interest to keep the Integrity Commission enfeebled, to make sure that it doesn't bare its teeth"

References

{{authority control Anti-corruption agencies in Australia Specialist law enforcement agencies of Australia Government agencies of Tasmania Government agencies established in 2010