It’s deeply disturbing Tasmania’s Integrity Commission has at the eleventh hour and with a bizarre explanation dropped important reforms around lobbying and lobbyists.
Years of work went into a code of conduct for lobbyists due to be introduced on July 1 – in the middle of the election campaign.
But it was abandoned this week with barely a word.
The Mercury front page yesterday roared “Bad for democracy” and today ABC’s Leon Compton read on radio a statement from the Commission.
“The decision to withdraw from the lobbying reform project was made by the board of the (Tasmanian) Integrity Commission. The board has no further comment to make at this stage.”
The long-awaited reforms would have shone a light on the activities of those industry and corporate influencers who for decades have captured Tasmanian governments with their vested interests, at the expense of the interests of ordinary Tasmanians.
The Integrity Commission must itself be open and transparent about its processes.
The public deserves the respect of a decent answer from the Commission.
At the same time the silence from Liberal and Labor is deafening.
This week’s staggering move by the Commission follows the Premier in February abandoning a promised review to improve the Commission.
Greg Melick, AO KC is the integrity commission’s Chief Commissioner.
He was appointed in 2015.
He chairs the board of the Integrity Commission.
Last November, he gave evidence before a parliamentary committee that the Integrity Commission requires at least a doubling of its $3.7 million annual funding to manage a skyrocketing caseload.
And separate and unrelated to Mr Melick and his evidence above, it’s the second election where we don’t know the outcome of key investigations into elected representatives.