Independent MP selected for top anti-corruption job vows to show ‘no fear nor favour’

The committee that will oversee the new federal anti-corruption watchdog does not look exactly as its second-in-command would have liked.

But independent Indi MP Helen Haines, who was elected deputy chair on Wednesday, still has faith the body will fulfil its purpose.

“I have great confidence in the committee,” Haines told Crikey. 

What kind of committee was Haines hoping for? To start, the group would not have been chaired by a government representative.

Linda White, a first-term Victorian Labor senator, is the committee’s inaugural chair.

Haines and other crossbenchers fought during the wrangling over the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) legislation last year for the chair of the parliamentary committee to be independent of the government. 

But the government and opposition were united in their belief the government should get the chair, and won out in the end. 

“This is a really important point, and it’s one that I argued very strongly on, as we were examining the government’s NACC legislation, and in my own bill, it would not have been that there was a government chair,” Haines said. 

“It would have been an opposition chair or a crossbencher … I think that would have been a better model.

“But the government argued in their legislation that this is how it is on other very powerful committees like the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security.”

Even so, the mere fact of having an independent member in such a high position on a committee is highly unusual and a testament to the government’s good faith, according to Haines.

Haines also said she had “great confidence” in White as chair.

White was not available for an interview but said in an emailed response to questions her role as chair would be to “help cement the NACC as a truly independent and effective national integrity body for Australia”.

Asked if she could imagine a conflict arising between her roles as government senator and chair, and how she would navigate it, White said: “The commission will be independent from the government, and the committee has no role in overseeing investigations of the NACC.

“The committee monitors and reviews the performance of the commissioner and inspector in their functions, and reports on the commission’s resourcing. As with all parliamentary committees, I respect the standards of integrity that members and senators are expected to uphold.” 

Haines said the NACC would be “completely independent”, yet accountable to the committee, which would in turn be “transparent and accountable to the parliament”.

“If there are problems, parliamentarians will raise those issues, that’s how Parliament works,” she said.

“And you can be sure that there’ll be someone like me, who as an independent on that committee would have no fear nor favour around … how the NACC was operating.”

The government will have a total of six seats on the committee; the opposition four; and the crossbench two, occupied by Haines and a Greens senator.

Haines said it wasn’t clear when the NACC could begin its first investigation but that the government aimed at having it open around July this year. 

Before that happens, the attorney-general will select preferred candidates for the NACC’s commissioner, deputy commissioners, and inspector. 

The committee will scrutinise the candidates before approving them. 

Haines said Australia won’t see any US-style open hearings where the candidates’ qualifications and references are raked over in public. 

“No, it won’t be [like that], I’m not sure to be honest, we haven’t discussed how we go about it yet, we’ve only had one meeting,” she said. 

“But part of our terms of reference is to approve the nomination, so we will have to work through as the committee our process to determining that.”

Do you have faith that the NACC will be an effective anti-corruption body? Let us know your thoughts by writing to letters@crikey.com.au. Please include your full name to be considered for publication. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.