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Anti-corruption watchdog clears parliament

The National Anti-Corruption Commission will start its work holding politicians and officials to account next year after laws passed parliament.

November 30, 2022
By Dominic Giannini
30 November 2022

A federal anti-corruption watchdog will be up and running in the coming months after the government’s signature legislation passed parliament.

The Senate passed the legislation on Tuesday with amendments that beefed up the powers of the inspector who provides oversight of the commission.

The amendments were ticked off in the lower house on Wednesday with multi-party support.  

Crossbenchers failed in their attempts to lower the threshold for public hearings to be held, arguing there needed to be transparency about what was being investigated. 

The opposition and government teamed up to keep the “exceptional circumstances” test before a public hearing can be held.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said it was a win for honesty, accountability, integrity and trust.

“Today we take an important step to rebuild trust in government, our public institutions and our democracy,” he told parliament.

“It represents an end to rorting and waste.”

He welcomed the fact the opposition, crossbench and government had worked closely to improve the bill and pass it.

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