preventing public sector corruption: the relationship between parliamentary committees and...
TRANSCRIPT
Preventing public sector corruption: The relationship between parliamentary committees
and corruption commissions
Dr Lyndel Bates CARRS-Q Peter Rogers Queensland Parliamentary Service
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Overview
• Civilian oversight• Model accountability system• Crime and Misconduct Commission• Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct
Committee• Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct
Commissioner• Three year reviews
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Civilian oversight
• Aims to enhance accountability and confidence in police organisations (Porter & Prenzler, 2012a)
• Ensure police organisations act with integrity (Filstad & Gottschalk, 2011; Prenzler & Lewis, 2005)
• Powers and functions vary between jurisdictions (Porter & Prenzler, 2012b)
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Model accountability system
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Cross-Party Parliamentary
Oversight Committee
Inspector
Public Sector Integrity
Commission
Politicians Police Public sector Local government
Government commercial
entities
Adapted from Prenzler, 2009
Crime and Misconduct Commission (1)
• CMC is an independent statutory body• Commenced on 1 January 2002• Established under the Crime and
Misconduct Act 2001• Range of coercive powers under the Act
Crime and Misconduct Commission, 2012; Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Committee, 2012; Lewis, 2010; den Heyer and Beckley, 2013)
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Crime and Misconduct Commission (2)
• Combating and reducing the incidence of major crime
• Improving the integrity of the public sector• Other areas
– Research and prevention– Intelligence– Witness protection– Civil confiscation of the proceeds of crime
Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Committee, 2012
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Accountability of CMC
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Parliament and the people of
Queensland
Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct
Committee
Crime and Misconduct Commission
Commissioners
Parliamentary Commissioner
The Minister (performance
reporting)
Parliaments and public sector integrity agencies
• Parliaments create public sector integrity agencies
• Parliaments are the mechanism by which public sector integrity agencies remain accountable
Wettenhall, 2012
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Role of the Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct
Committee• Monitor and review the CMC• Report to the Parliament on relevant
matters relating to CMC• Assist in the appointment process of CMC
chairperson and part-time commissioners
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Activities of the PCMC (1)
• Examine reports provided by CMC • Consider minutes of meetings of the CMC
and its executive• Regular bi-monthly meetings between
PCMC and Chairperson and senior CMC officers
• Regular meetings with the parliamentary commissioner
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Activities of the PCMC (2)
• Receives and considers complaints against CMC and its officers
• Reviews CMC reports• Examines CMC performance measures• Requests reports from CMC on matters• Audits CMC registers and files regarding
use of CMC powers (may be done by commissioner)
• Can conduct inquiries
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Differences with other parliamentary committees
• PCMC continues in existence even after the dissolution of Parliament
• Chair is non-government member• Attachment of a parliamentary officer,
known as the Parliamentary Commissioner, to the committee
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Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Commissioner (1)• Has roles under several Acts• Directed by the committee• Investigates complaints against the CMC• Audits and reviews CMC performance• Has coercive powers • Can order to CMC officers to attend
hearings or to produce records, documents and things
Lewis, 2010
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Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Commissioner (2)• Part-time role• Minimum tenure is two years• Maximum tenure is five years• Needs to have served as, or be qualified
for appointment as, a judge in either the Supreme Court, the High Court of Australia or the Federal Court of Australia
• Appointment requires bipartisan committee support
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Three year reviews (1)
• Review of CMC activities• Report may make recommendations to
amend the Act• All recommendations must be considered
by the Queensland Government• Must respond within three – six months of
report being tabled
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Three year reviews (2)
• PCMC issues media release• Places an advertisement calling for
submissions• PCMC writes to stakeholders inviting
written submissions• Hold public hearings• Parliamentary Commissioner involved in
all reviews
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Ongoing developments
• Two recent reviews• Queensland Government appointed an
advisory panel to advise on the Crime and Misconduct Act
• PCMC investigation into CMC’s release and destruction of Fitzgerald Inquiry documents
• Queensland Government needs to consider the findings of these reviews
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Conclusions• Queensland system similar to model
proposed by Prenzler (2009)• Assists in making integrity commission
accountable to Parliament and the electorate
• Inclusion of a commissioner provides access to an experienced legally trained professional
• Need for research to understand role of parliamentary committees in oversight
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ReferencesCrime and Misconduct Commission. 2012. Annual Report 2011-12. Brisbane: Crime and Misconduct
Commission.
den Heyer, G and A Beckley. 2013. "Police independent oversight in Australia and New Zealand." Police Practice and Research: An International Journal.
Filstad, C and P Gottschalk. 2011. "Performance evaluation of police oversight agencies." Policing and Society: An International Journal of Research and Policy 21 (1): 96-109.
Lewis, C. 2010. "Crime and Misconduct Commission: Moving away from Fitzgerald." In The Fitzgerald Legacy: Reforming Public Life in Australia and Beyond, edited by C Lewis, J Ransley and R Homel, 57-80. Brisbane: Australian Academic Press.
Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Committee. 2012. Annual Report 2011/2012. Brisbane: Queensland Parliament.
Porter, L and T Prenzler. 2012a. "Police oversight in the United Kingdom: The balance of independence and collaboration." International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice 40 (3): 152-171.
Porter, L and T Prenzler. 2012b. "Corruption prevention and complaint management." In Policing and Security in Practice: Challenges and Achievements, edited by T Prenzler, 130-148. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Prenzler, T. 2009. Police Corruption: Preventing Misconduct and Maintaining Integrity. Boca Raton: CRC Press/Taylor and Francis.
Prenzler, T and C Lewis. 2005. "Performance Indicators for Police Oversight Agencies." Australian Journal of Public Administration 64 (2): 77-83.
Wettenhall, R. 2012. "Integrity agencies: the significance of the parliamentary relationship." Policy Studies 33 (1): 65-78.
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Thank youQuestions?
Dr Lyndel Bates
Peter Rogers
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