Dozens of former Australian judges yesterday published an open letter to Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison calling for a national anti-corruption body to restore public trust in the democratic process.
The letter, written by 34 former judges, including former High Court of Australia chief justice Gerard Brennan, said there is public suspicion that corruption permeates many government actions.
“Secrecy is at the core of corrupt conduct,” they said in the letter, published in the Sunday Age newspaper. “Existing federal integrity agencies lack the necessary jurisdiction, powers and know-how to investigate properly the impartiality and bona fides of decisions made by, and conduct of, the federal government and public sector.”
“A national integrity commission is urgently needed to fill the gaps in our integrity system and restore trust in our democracy,” they wrote.
Public concerns over possible corruption in government decisionmaking have heightened in recent years.
Transparency International Australia, an anti-corruption organization, conducted a survey in June that found 85 percent of people believe at least some members of the national parliament are corrupt, and two-thirds of Australians support the creation of a national anti-corruption body.
A government minister in the state of New South Wales was jailed last year for wilful misconduct in public office after gifting a mining license without a competitive tender.
Concerns have also been raised over senior public servants winning lucrative consultancy or board positions from firms which then win contracts from their previous departments, said A.J. Brown, a professor of public policy at Griffith University and board member of Transparency International.
The judges’ letter was coordinated by The Australia Institute think tank, which worked with legal experts to design an anti-corruption body.
Australia Institute researcher Hannah Aulby said their goal was to support transparency in the political process.
“There’s not enough accountability,” she told reporters by telephone.
Independent Member of Parliament Cathy McGowan plans to table a bill to establish a national anti-corruption body in federal parliament when it resumes today.
The Labor opposition supports a national anti-corruption body, but the move is opposed by the ruling minority government.
Australian Attorney General Christian Porter told reporters that the model would give extraordinary powers against public servants with a definition of “corruption” that was too broad.
“Those powers could be used without proper checks and balances,” he said in an e-mailed statement.
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including