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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-10-13 Daily Xml
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Independent Commissioner Against Corruption Annual Report 2014-15

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Justice Reform, Minister for Planning, Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Child Protection Reform) (14:10): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: The 2014-15 annual report of the Independent Commissioner Against Corruption, the Hon. Bruce Lander QC, is being tabled today in parliament. The annual report is the first full year report of the ICAC and the Office for Public Integrity. I thank the commissioner for his work in the past year.

During 2014-15, there were a total of 927 reports and complaints involving 1,525 issues referred to the OPI. This compares with 923 complaints and reports about 2,276 issues reported in the previous year's annual report which, of course, reported on the first 10 months of its operations. There were 82 corruption investigations commenced in 2014-15, which is an increase of 11 from 2013-14. The commissioner exercised his powers of an inquiry agency 12 times in the past year, compared with 22 times in the 2013-14 year.

The commissioner recommended separate legislation be introduced to deal with the conduct of lobbyists, and I am pleased to report that this has now been passed by both houses of parliament. The government is considering the recommendations regarding lobbyists being considered public officers for the purposes of the Independent Commissioner Against Corruption Act. The commissioner has also recommended a central record be kept of public officers who have been dismissed or who have resigned from employment because of investigations or findings regarding misconduct. We will be considering this recommendation.

A key piece of work the commissioner published on 30 June 2015 was the Review of Legislative Schemes, which contained 29 recommendations. The government is undertaking further work regarding these recommendations. The Hon. Kevin Duggan AM, QC has again conducted his review report of the ICAC. I am pleased to advise the report does not find any evidence of noncompliance in the exercise of powers under the ICAC Act. The review report again recommends a mechanism for the making of complaints of abuse of the exercise of powers by the commissioner or other forms of misconduct on the part of ICAC. The government is considering progressing this recommendation.

The report also suggests amendments to the information sheet provided to people who are the subject of a warrant to expressly state such people are entitled to request a copy of the warrant. It further suggests references on the information sheet to provisions of the ICAC Act which do not apply to search operations should be removed. I now table the report of the review of operations of the Independent Commissioner Against Corruption and the Office for Public Integrity.

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