Johnston: The Integrity Commission is Hopeless

Transcript of media conference with Kristie Johnston, independent MHA for Clark, Parliament Lawns, Hobart, 3 May 2024.

Kristie Johnston

The latest threats from the Chief Integrity Commissioner Greg Melick to MPs to stay silent about issues of integrity when they come back to Parliament in just over a week’s time are disgraceful. Integrity is important. Corruption and abuse of power thrives in the dark. It thrives when people don’t question integrity and standards. The community expect much more.

For the Integrity Commission to come out as they have done publicly and demand essentially that MPs stay silent on issues of integrity is disgraceful. Quite frankly, our Integrity Commission is hopeless. They are taking far too long to conduct investigations. They have never held a public hearing. They are an absolute toothless tiger; you’ve got to wonder what the point of it is. Ironically, they’re called the Integrity Commission, but they’re not showing much integrity at the moment.

Journalist – Elliott

Did this correspondence come straight to MPs or was it released to the media first?

Kristie Johnston

My understanding is it was given to the media, I’ve had no direct contact from the Integrity Commission. So it’s a threat via the media via public to MPs to stay quiet about matters of great integrity. Now, when we go back to Parliament in several weeks time, it’s important that the public know exactly who is representing them and know that no one who will be sworn in is under investigation by the Integrity Commission. This is information that should have been made available long ago.

The secrecy the Integrity Commission has maintained is inappropriate and unacceptable. People should have known when they went to the election if anyone was under investigation by the Integrity Commission. And they certainly ought to know before Members are sworn in.

Journalist – Elliott

Do you believe Members could be sworn in who are under investigation?

Kristie Johnston

There’s a great potential that there will be Members sworn in, when we go back on the 14th of May, who are under investigation by the Integrity Commission. From the little detail the Integrity Commission has released, we know that there are potentially two elected Members under investigation. Now I can declare I’m not one of them. I understand the Labor Party have made a similar declaration as have the Greens. So I ask: “who are these individuals and why does the community not know?”

Tasmanian Times

Kevin Bonham, who you’re probably familiar with, tweeted a couple of days ago, quote, “this practice of long running inquiries into unnamed politician seems to me to be integrity risk in itself. It means the Commission has potentially abusable powers over politicians in terms of when that information is disclosed.” What’s your opinion on that?

Kristie Johnston

I wholeheartedly endorse the comments of Kevin Bonham there. Quite frankly, as I say, corruption and abuse of power thrive in the dark. When people can’t ask these important questions of the Integrity Commission about their processes, about the investigations and the way they conduct themselves, they are not upholding standards of integrity the community expect. Their systems are not right. The way they conduct themselves is not right. And quite frankly, the comments that the Chief Commissioner has made are political in nature.

Tasmanian Times

What therefore would you like to see done to fix the Integrity Commission? I mean, views vary but it’s generally considered to be the weakest in Australia. So what needs to be improved?

Kristie Johnston

I think the culture of the Integrity Commission is terminal. Quite frankly, I don’t think that the community has the confidence in the Integrity Commission to do its job. It may not necessarily be a fault of the Act itself. Indeed, the Act itself is very similar in many ways to the New South Wales ICAC Act, but it’s an issue around culture.

When you see a Chief Integrity Commissioner come out as he has done and criticised Members of Parliament for wanting to uphold standards of integrity, then we have a serious cultural issue with the Integrity Commission. I have said all along the Integrity Commission is failing in its duty. We need to start again.

Journalist – Elliott

Is there any action you’re considering taking in relation to this correspondence?

Kristie Johnston

I have been consistent in calling on the Premier to make a declaration that none of his Ministers or nominee for Speaker is under investigation by the Integrity Commission. I made that call publicly a number of weeks ago.

In response, the Premier wrote to me and expressed his disappointment that I would dare to incorrect question the Integrity Commission’s actions and that I should refer back to the Integrity Commission. That’s not acceptable. I again called the Premier to make that declaration. If the Integrity Commission aren’t willing to do their job and uphold standards of integrity, then surely the Premier must do too.

Tasmanian Times

Is resourcing an issue? I mean, we have fairly long time frames on a lot of these things in Tasmania: Ombudsman queries, right to information requests, Integrity Commission. Would more resources help fix things?

Kristie Johnston

I have no doubt that more resources would be useful in the Integrity Commission. But as I say, I think we have a cultural issue here. We have the Chief Integrity Commissioner coming out making political statements, trying to silence Members of Parliament. We have a serious issue beyond resourcing and beyond the Act; we have a culture that is not healthy and not conducive to acts of integrity.

Journalist – Elliott

And do you think that the increased support for independents and minor parties in the House of Assembly is a sign that Tasmanians do care about issues of integrity?

Kristie Johnston

Absolutely. I think people are looking to independents and the crossbench to shine a light on the issues of integrity, to be the ones that are in Parliament asking the tough questions, and that’s why they’re looking into the independents in particular. Now for the Integrity Commission to come out and say that we should not be doing our jobs representing Tasmania and should be silent on integrity issues is absolutely disgraceful. And I would think that people in the community would be ashamed of the Integrity Commission.

Media statement – Greg Melick AO SC, Chief Commissioner, 30 April 2024

Reinforcing the importance of confidentiality

Ahead of the opening of the new session of Parliament, the Integrity Commission is taking the opportunity to remind Members of Parliament about the Commission’s obligation to maintain the confidentiality of its investigations, and the importance of not speculating about the identity of individuals or organisations who may be involved in our matters.

Chief Commissioner Greg Melick AO SC said discretion and ensuring people were not subjected to untested allegations being discussed in the public arena, were a key part of the Commission’s approach.

“Parliament has bestowed significant powers on the Tasmanian Integrity Commission,” Chief Commissioner Melick said.

“We bear those powers with the responsibility they deserve and that means not airing allegations until a proper assessment and investigation has been conducted. We have been very clear that we do not confirm or deny which organisations or individuals are the subject of current investigations.

“Nor should others speculate whether the Commission is undertaking an investigation into a particular person or entity.

“This approach protects the integrity of our investigations by affording fairness to the subjects of those investigations – who by definition have not been found to have committed any act of misconduct – and allowing our people do their jobs without unnecessary public influence or pressure.”

In many cases the reason for ensuring confidentiality is not only to avoid undue damage to a person’s reputation but also to ensure evidence is properly gathered and preserved.

Confidentiality notices are issued under the Integrity Commission Act 2009 to people who are the subject of an investigation, and also to heads of relevant agencies and other responsible public officers. People subject to such notices are unable to comment on or answer questions about investigations. Breaching a notice could result in fines of up to 2,000 penalty units, which currently amounts to $390,000.