Ministerial Statement

INDEPENDENT COMMISSIONER AGAINST CORRUPTION

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Treasurer, Minister for State Development, Minister for the Public Sector, Minister for the Arts) (14:03): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: I was very pleased this morning to announce that the Hon. Justice Bruce Thomas Lander QC will be appointed as South Australia's first Independent Commissioner Against Corruption. I am sure all members will agree that the Hon. Justice Lander, a judge of the Federal Court of Australia, is an outstanding appointment for this state's ICAC.

His Honour brings a wealth of experience and gravitas to the critical role of the inaugural Independent Commissioner Against Corruption. Justice Lander was admitted to the Supreme Court of South Australia in 1969 after completing articles with Baker McEwin & Co. (now Minter Ellison). Justice Lander practised as a solicitor until 1982, when he joined the independent bar as one of the founding members of Jeffcott Chambers. He was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1986. His Honour's first judicial appointment was to the Supreme Court of South Australia in November 1994. In July 2003, Justice Lander was appointed as a judge of the Federal Court.

Later judicial appointments included becoming an additional judge of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory in January 2004; the Deputy President of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in November 2005; a judge of the Supreme Court of Norfolk Island in December 2008; and His Honour has also been an auxiliary judge of the Supreme Court of South Australia since 2008. In one of my first acts as Premier, I moved for the government to establish an Independent Commissioner Against Corruption. We secured the passage of our ICAC legislation despite opposition last year. This morning—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: I call the Leader of the Opposition to order.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: This morning the Attorney-General called together a meeting of the Statutory Officers Committee which resolved that the proposed appointment of Justice Lander be approved. Today is the next milestone in our state's ICAC. Other state ICACs have been born out of crisis—this is not the case in South Australia. Our ICAC has been born out of a recognised need to improve the community's confidence in the integrity of public office. As I said, it is my view that South Australia needed an ICAC and I am very pleased today to mark the next milestone in its establishment.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Premier, could you resume your seat. I call the member for Morialta, the member for Unley and the member for Heysen to order.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: South Australia is fortunate in being able to attract a person of Justice Lander's standing to this important office. It is a real vote of confidence in our model of the ICAC; a model that will ensure that corruption is actually stamped out. Justice Lander will commence his office appointment on 1 September, and the government looks forward to working with His Honour, to ready the office of public integrity and His Honour's own office of commissioner to open as soon as possible.