Corruption needs to tackled head on

Commission of Inquiry Act should be scrapped and Integrity Commission needs teeth.

Over many years there have been calls for Royal Commissions into the Pulp Mill – and other issues in Tasmania. It has been pointed out on several occasions on TT, as has Tim Ellis (TT HERE), that Tasmania now has a ‘Commission of Inquiry’ Act, not a ‘Royal Commission’ Act.

As Frank Tooby points out, Governments have to call for a Commission of Inquiry to be established and they decide the terms of references – an exercise in futility and waste of tax payers money. The Government’s control of the powers of the Commission of Inquiry into the Shooting of Joe Gilewicz Inquiry showed this blatantly.

The role of investigating allegations of corruption in Tasmania now rests with the Integrity Commission. The Commission of Inquiry Act is effectively redundant and should be scrapped.

The Integrity Commission is the only possible avenue to take the allegations of corruption on the Pulp Mill development or anything else.

If, as has been stated on TT previously, that the Integrity Commission won’t look into the issues, then the Tasmanian community will need to put forward the amendments necessary to the Integrity Commission Act to enable it do so.

Amendment of the Integrity Commission Act needs to be at the top of the list of election asks at the coming state election.

If it is not possible to have a properly functional Integrity Commission in Tasmania we will plagued by corruption as much in the future as we have been in the past.