(Image: Tom Red/Private Media)

When I was a young reporter, a Queensland government minister adversely named at the Fitzgerald Inquiry into corruption called me to deliver a gobful of abuse. I told my boss, expecting sympathy.

“If you want to be loved, go work in the Valley,’’ he told me, referencing where most sex work offenses took place in Brisbane. “If you want to be a journalist, go back to your desk.’’

The minister was later sent to jail, one of a swag of elected leaders who misused their office and abused the trust of voters in the lead-up to the history-making legal clean-up delivered by Tony Fitzgerald QC in 1989. His commission of inquiry forced the resignation of a premier, two byelections, the jailing of three former ministers and the police commissioner. It overhauled hundreds of laws and rules and processes, from a gerrymandered electoral system to how private information was used (and misused).

And under the leadership of outgoing National Party premier Mike Ahern and incoming Labor premier Wayne Goss, Queensland rebuilt its electoral and criminal justice systems, some of it from scratch.

That was more than three decades ago, and its legacy — the Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC)– has suffered so many own goals in recent times that its future is being questioned, mainly on the back of a slew of failed prosecutions and unfairly damaged reputations.

The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has fared slightly better, but its headline act still revolves around a fair degree of overreach and ruining the reputations of three Liberal premiers.

While the jury might still be out on Gladys Berejiklian, Nick Greiner — who championed its creation — fell victim to misusing his position, an accusation levelled at many politicians on any day of the week ending in a “y”. And Barry O’Farrell resigned, essentially over a memory fail about a flash bottle of wine given to him by someone who was the bigwig at a company being investigated by ICAC.

There have been other ICAC scalps — former Labor MP Eddie Obeid is just one — but for the most part the perceived failings of ICAC and Queensland’s CCC have dominated attention. But crucially, little credit has been given to the enormous deterrent and educative effect of standing commissions of inquiry in both those states.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Scott Morrison continues to duck, weave and hide behind his promise that a federal integrity commission would be set up, a pledge he made three years ago. Three years! That surely goes to the heart of how important accountability and transparency is to a government that loves to pay hide and seek: it does not want to be accountable, it does not value transparency. Its proposed body would even potentially protect corrupt ministers.

Trust in many of our public institutions has taken an almighty beating in recent years, and a federal standing commission could be the first step in rebuilding faith in politicians and their decision-making.

For example, voters have a right to know the background and consequences of decisions like promising commuter car parks in winnable seats, purchasing land linked to the development of the western Sydney airport, sports grants, and Stuart Robert’s internet usage bills. We should know who knew what about the alleged rape of Brittany Higgins, and how many ministers use blind trusts, and for what purpose.

For argument’s sake, if a genuine federal body was operating would those decisions have been made?

Accountability is the foundation of good government, and any perceived failings of the CCC and ICAC are not a reason to delay the introduction of a federal body which is fiercely independent, well-resourced and transparent.

It might be a reason to get it right — but if Morrison can’t manage that after three years, he perhaps needs to hand over the decision-making to someone else. Or voters need to show his government at the ballot box just how indispensable they view accountability.