12 November 2024
The Hon. R.A. SIMMS (21:05): I rise to speak briefly on this bill. I do so, though, with an element of frustration. I recognise of course that we were not intending to deal with this tonight, and we have moved this around to accommodate some other matters, but I am very frustrated with the speed in which the government is choosing to deal with these changes. I have advocated for some time that we did need to take another look at the ICAC Act and make some alterations, and indeed I have been on the public record previously recognising that when the parliament made those changes to the ICAC back in 2021, it did so I think with the best of intentions.
I do not accept the narrative that parliamentarians were all corrupt and all trying to cover up bad behaviour. I think actually what the parliament was trying to do was strike a better balance in terms of the ICAC. It is fair to say that there had been concerns about the fact that the balance had tipped too far against civil liberties in favour of the ICAC organisation. These are always matters of balance. It is my view that when the parliament collectively moved to try to fix that back in 2021, it did so to try to strike a better balance.
My concern, however, was that there were some unintended consequences, that collectively we have swung the pendulum a little bit too far the other way, and also that the process that we adopted was not appropriate. We moved too quickly. Members of this chamber know that we had an inquiry into the ICAC, which was led by the Hon. Frank Pangallo and that many members of this place were engaged with. So there had been a parliamentary inquiry and a level of scrutiny happening within the parliament.
However, I do not think the parliament took the community with them in those changes. There had not been ongoing consultation and there were things that, clearly, we got wrong in the bill. One of those was this potential for members of parliament who are found guilty of criminal offences to have their legal fees potentially covered by the taxpayers, which I think most people in the community would regard as a slap in the face. There is a range of other things.
Certainly, from my perspective as an MP, I have often felt that I got that wrong, did not engage as deeply as I could have with the bill at the time, and that we missed some things. So it has always been my view that if we have an opportunity to revisit it again, make sure that we get it right. But to do that, you need time. So I am very frustrated that the government presented this bill to us last sitting. I only had a briefing last Thursday. There has been no opportunity to actually craft any amendments or do any meaningful consultation. That is very frustrating because we went down this path years ago. This is an opportunity to fix a few things and yet we are not being given the time to actually engage properly.
It is frustrating that this chamber is so often constipated for the first half of the year, and then there is a mad rush to get everything done at the eleventh hour as we head towards the Christmas period. The government is desperately trying to clear the backlog. That is very frustrating. It does not all have to be done right now. It does not all have to be done tonight without an opportunity to actually engage deeply with the content. That said, as I am on my feet I will talk to the proposal that the government has put forward.
The bill will make progress in addressing some of the issues that have been flagged with the existing legislation by the former Commissioner Ann Vanstone but also by other organisations, including the Law Society and the Centre for Public Integrity, and I welcome that. It will amend schedule 5 of the ICAC Act to change the criteria for reimbursement of legal costs under the act to ensure that a public officer who has been convicted of any offence is precluded from reimbursement.
The bill will also restrict the exercise of ministerial discretion over decisions involving reimbursement to current and former ministers and members of parliament. These are important changes that will bring the act into line with community expectations that politicians and public servants should not be paid back their legal costs where they are found to have engaged in wrongdoing.
The bill makes a series of commonsense amendments to address other operational and technical issues, including inserting a delegation of power in relation to the ICAC inspector's power and functions and clarifying the ICAC inspector's ability to investigate the exercise of power under the ICAC Act as it existed prior to 25 August 2021. The bill also requires the disclosure of certain information following the completion of an investigation under the ICAC Act to the person who was the subject of that investigation, addressing concerns that have been raised about the mandatory operation of this section being too restrictive.
I note that the Hon. Connie Bonaros has flagged that she will move a number of amendments to the bill and I indicate that the Greens are supportive of those. I further note that the Crime and Public Integrity Policy Committee will commence a review of the operation of the ICAC Act towards the end of this year. The government has indicated that it is not closed off to the possibility of further changes to the act, and I welcome that. The Greens welcome any further improvements to legislation so that we can ensure the integrity of South Australia's Public Service.