Attorney General Lara Giddings today released the Government s response to the report of the Joint Select Committee on Ethical Conduct.
Ms Giddings said the Committee s work had formed the basis for the Government s Bill to create a new Integrity Commission for Tasmania.
I thank Committee members for their work, and for the coherent and common-sense model for an Integrity Commission that they provided, Ms Giddings said.
One of the Premier s first acts on taking office was to establish the Joint select Committee.
While we have made some changes in the Bill that last night passed the House of Assembly, the Integrity Commission Bill 2009 is consistent with the intent and recommendations of the report released in July.
This Bill is critical to the Government s plan to restore trust in our democracy and political processes and I look forward to the debate in the Legislative Council so we can meet our commitment to have the legislation in place before the end of the year.
This legislation builds on current protections and will fill in any gaps in our existing processes of scrutiny and accountability.
The Commission s scope will encompass the public sector in a broad sense – including Parliament, Ministers and their offices, government departments, government businesses and state-owned companies, Tasmania Police, and councils and council owned companies.
While it is important that the Integrity Commission has investigative powers, its primary emphasis will be on education and advisory services so we can have confidence that our public sector institutions are performing according to the highest ethical standards.
Of the Committee s 33 recommendations all but two have been accepted or already implemented by the Government, the exceptions being a review of the size of Parliament and the call for expenditure submissions to be tabled in Parliament by 30 April each year before the State Budget has even been released, Ms Giddings said.
Lara Giddings, Attorney General
