LABOR PLEDGES ANTI-CORRUPTION COMMISSION WILL HAVE ‘TEETH’
LABOR’S promised anticorruption commission will have “teeth”, but Anthony Albanese says he would not automatically stand down members of his own team who were hauled in front of investigators before charges were laid.
Mr Albanese said he would make “assessments at the time” if a Labor MP or minister was accused or fronting the National AntiCorruption Commission he has vowed to legislate by the end of this year.
“If they are just there as a witness or assisting, obviously not,” he said.
“What an Anti-Corruption Commission does around the country is it provides investigations, and then there are charges laid. If there are any charges laid against anyone, then, of course, they should stand aside.”
Asked if he backed the NSW ICAC model, which has resulted in politicians such as former premier Gladys Berejiklian standing down without any charges laid, Mr Albanese did not give a direct answer.
“I think it is good that the ICAC has held corrupt politicians to account, regardless of where they have come from,” he said.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been critical of the NSW model, referring to it as a “kangaroo court” and claiming it unfairly ruined the career of Ms Berejiklian before any adverse findings were made against her.
Mr Albanese spent the day in the Far North Queensland seat of Leichardt on
Saturday, promoting Labor’s anti-corruption plan and again defending his economic track record.
Mr Albanese said Labor’s National Anti-Corruption Commission would have
“teeth”, be independent and have investigative powers.
“In terms of our plan going forward, we have enormous support across the board, not just, might I say, from within the Labor Party,” he said.
He was joined by Labor’s treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers, who denied the Coalition had passed the “test” he set for them in October 2020 when he claimed a mark of success in responding to the pandemic would be the unemployment rate.
Despite the national rate on track to get below 4 per cent for the first time in decades, Mr Chalmers would
not concede that this was a success.
“We want the unemployment rate to be as low as possible,” he said.
“(But) even with an unemployment rate coming down in welcome ways, we haven’t seen real wages growth sufficiently with the skyrocketing cost of living and we have skill shortages which are being left unattended.
“The story of the labour market is broader than the unemployment rate.”
Asked about reports Labor insiders had described the first week of Mr Albanese’s election campaign as a
“shitshow”, Mr Chalmers said it was not his experience.
“My experience is that all around Australia, there is an appetite for something better than this current government,” he said.
Mr Chalmers said Labor was “match fit”.
“We are up for the challenge of getting this country a better future under Labor and providing the kind of alternative that people are proud to vote for,” he said.
“We have been putting in the work for years now on alternatives, whether it is a National Anti-Corruption Commission (or) getting real wages growing.”