Dr WOODRUFF question to ATTORNEY-GENERAL, Mr BARNETT
Dr WOODRUFF – Attorney, we now know from the Premier that bolstering the Integrity Commission is being kicked down the road. Compared to every other Australian jurisdiction, Tasmania’s integrity body is shamefully underfunded to perform its statutory function. It has less than five full‑time staff to oversee 40,000 public sector workers, including 1400 Tasmanian police officers.
After the Weiss review’s release, the commission’s chair, Greg Melick AO, said the commission simply cannot take on more work. He said, ‘On our current budget, we cannot provide the level of investigational oversight that the report recommends.’ Your government seems reluctant to empower the Integrity Commission to slough off its reputation of being toothless and ineffective, and without additional funding, it remains unable to do its job.
Will there be a substantial increase to the Integrity Commission’s funding to cover the extra work required by the Commission of Inquiry and the Weiss review, or will that also be ignored?
ANSWER
Honourable Speaker, I thank the member for her question and interest in the Integrity Commission. I say upfront, as the Premier did, that I have confidence in the Integrity Commission and their work, integrity and independence. As a government, and, I hope, as a parliament, we respect their independence. They have important work to do and we support them in undertaking those responsibilities for and on behalf of all of us, not just as a Parliament, but as a community and state service. I back that in.
You quoted from the Chair. I thank the Chair for his work and thank the members of the commission. They do important work on an ongoing basis and it is respected and valued by our government.
I also indicate that you have misquoted the Premier in the opening remarks to your question. You have characterised the comments by the Premier inappropriately, unfairly and incorrectly. I say that very clearly.
I will not go over the Premier’s previous answer, which was very comprehensive regarding the important work of reforming the Integrity Commission. We have had the Cox review and more recently the Weiss report. The Premier has made it very clear that we support the Weiss report and its recommendations. I know the police minister is backing that 100 per cent. Let us be very clear that we take these matters very seriously.
You asked about funding and resources, and I will address that part of the question. In 2021, the Commission received an additional $622,000 per annum over three years that provided an additional five full‑time equivalent staff in a mix of permanent and fixed term positions, reducing to three full‑time equivalent staff in 2024. Further funding was provided in the 2022‑23 Budget: $225,000 over the forward estimates for education and oversight functions to improve investigative time frames, meet investigative demands, and to manage the state government lobbyists register. The Treasurer approved rolling forward $170,000 to the 2022‑23 budget year. I could go on, but in light of the short amount of time, I indicate that we do value the Integrity Commission and its important work, and we take it very seriously.
SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTION
Dr WOODRUFF – A supplementary question, Speaker?
The SPEAKER – I will hear the supplementary, Dr Woodruff.
Dr WOODRUFF – The minister said that I had misquoted the Premier. Will he be putting extra money into the Integrity Commission’s budget this year? If not, then there is clearly no intention to strengthen the Integrity Commission to do extra work.
The SPEAKER – Sorry, Leader of the Greens, this is not a time to debate the point. I am happy to take the supplementary and ask the Attorney‑General to address the additional funding issue –
Dr Woodruff – The original question.
The SPEAKER – But it is not an opportunity to debate the matter.
Mr BARNETT – I thank the member for her supplementary question. The member – and I hope all members in this parliament do – knows full well that we cannot pre‑empt the Budget. The Budget will be presented on Budget day, 12 September.
Dr Woodruff – Are you going to fund the Weiss report? Are you going to fund the recommendations? This is what Tasmanians want to know.
The SPEAKER – Attorney‑General, continue with your answer, please. I am sorry, Leader of the Greens. We will hear the answer.
Mr BARNETT – I have made it very clear that we take it seriously. The Premier has accepted on behalf of the government all the recommendations of the Weiss report and you will see more on Budget day regarding those funding decisions.
