The integrity wars continue … ICACs everywhere under assault … South Australian politicians eviscerate the state’s anti-corruption body … Strange timing … Looking after the patch … Attorney General investigated over possible conflicts  

The changes, brought in a private members bill from SA BEST’s Frank Pangallo MLC (a former TV reporter for Today Tonight), will see parliamentary privilege protections strengthened and ICAC stripped of its power to investigate maladministration and misconduct. 

That jurisdiction will be transferred to the SA Ombudsman.

However, as Commissioner Ann Vanstone explained to parliament, the definition of “misconduct” has also been amended in the Ombudsman Act to mean “an intentional and serious contravention of the code of conduct by a public officer”. 

Given that there is no code of conduct for MPs, it appears that the Ombudsman would be unable to investigate parliamentarians at all. 

Pangallo framed the limitations on jurisdiction as enabling ICAC to focus its efforts solely on finding and weeding out corruption, rather than measly matters of misconduct and maladministration. 

Vanstone argued that the removal of misconduct from its investigative purview will limit ICAC’s ability to begin corruption investigations in the first place, many of which begin as inquiries into complaints of misconduct or maladministration. 

A new Office of Public Integrity (OPI) has been established as a “clearing house” for allocating complaints either to ICAC or the Ombudsman. 

In the months prior, concerns had been raised by politicians over the breadth of ICAC’s powers, delays in its processes, and the impacts that its investigations had on individuals who were ultimately exonerated. 

A series of aborted prosecutions in the past year further weakened ICAC’s standing among the political class. 

Days before Pangallo’s bill was introduced, a parliamentary committee heard from the widow of a senior police officer who took his life while under investigation, only to be exonerated days after his death. 

Pangallo claimed that changes to ICAC were appropriate given its “substantial expenditure, secret investigations, underwhelming results, controversy and criticism”.

The bill was introduced to the Lower House during government time by Attorney General Vickie Chapman. ICAC is not looked upon favourably by the Liberal government, especially after it announced investigations last year into nine MPs over travel allowances before going on to clear all but one. 

The ICAC amendments were passed while a number of Liberal MPs were the subject of ongoing investigation by ICAC, with two referrals to the DPP announced mere days after the passage of the legislation. 

A reasonable observer might have questions about the existence of conflicts of interests. 

Labor fell in behind the bill with astonishing alacrity. Stephen Mullighan praised the AG for her stewardship of the bill in the lower house, while Kyam Maher, Labor’s leader in the Legislative Council, extolled the virtues of Pangallo, saying that the extraordinary speed of the bill’s passage was due to the fact that the SA BEST MP had “worked very hard”. 

According to Maher, Labor’s support for the legislation was based on the Ombudsman’s opinion that the transfer of the misconduct and maladministration jurisdictions to his own office was “a desirable outcome.” 

This is curious, given that Ombudsman Wayne Lines previously expressed concern to a parliamentary committee about the narrowed definition of misconduct, and told the ABC that he “didn’t get the chance to put any written submissions into the committee because the legislation passed within 24 hours”.  

Opinion in The Advertiser was divided with journalist Michael McGuire describing the affair as “a disgraceful performance” while wondering “what level of self-interest was involved that such significant legislation needed to be rushed through so quickly”. 

Former Daily Telegraph editor David Pemberthy helpfully explained that what “looked at first blush like a complete rort” was in fact a case of voters re-enfranchising themselves by reclaiming the power to “hire and fire” politicians from “a bunch of lawyers”.

Pangallo’s bill passed in under 24 hours with support from all members. 

In the footsteps of ICAC’s emasculation, Labor and cross benchers moved to establish a select parliamentary committee to investigate the deputy premier and attorney general Vickie Chapman for alleged conflict of interest and failure to declare a pecuniary interest. 

Chapman, as minister for planning, rejected a proposed $40 million timber port off Kangaroo Island. The project received the status of a “major development” and was supported by her department. 

However, Vickie’s family owns property in the area and her father had previously served as the local MP. 

“I’m completely satisfied that there’s no conflict of interest,” she insists.