Culture

The NSW Corruption Commission Just Handed Down A Bombshell Report Into Dodgy Politicians

Just another day in NSW politics.

by Osman Faruqi  30 August 2016

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If you only know one thing about NSW politics it’s probably the fact that it’s got a tendency to be pretty bloody corrupt. A new report handed down by the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has helpfully laid out in detail some of the dodgy behaviour NSW politicians have gotten up to.

The report relates to Operation Spicer, an investigation undertaken by ICAC into allegations that NSW politicians circumvented stringent political donations laws. The politicians (who were mainly Liberals) were accused of colluding with property developers to funnel dodgy cash into their parties. Donations from property developers are illegal in NSW and there are strict caps on how much any one person can donate.

Even though the investigation focused on Liberal MPs the only politician to actually be found acting corruptly was former NSW Labor MP Joe Tripodi. ICAC found that Tripodi had leaked confidential government documents to Buildev, a company owned by mining mogul Nathan Tinkler, and recommended he be prosecuted for corruption.

ICAC has also recommended that former Liberal Energy Minister Chris Hartcher be charged with larceny. A swag of other MPs were found to have  “acted with the intention of evading” electoral laws. Thanks to a High Court ruling weakening ICAC’s authority, breaching electoral laws can’t be considered corrupt conduct. So they broke the rules, but according to current laws they weren’t acting corruptly.

It’s now up to the Director of Public Prosecutions to decide whether to charge the politicians. Everyone’s favourite colourful NSW identity, Eddie Obeid, was recently found guilty of corruption following an ICAC investigation. He faces up to 10 years in jail.

Today’s report shows that ICAC is doing its job: finding and exposing dodgy behaviour in our political system. There is no equivalent ICAC at a federal level, something the Greens are trying to change. The latest findings are likely to intensify calls for a federal corruption watchdog.

Are our federal politicians all squeaky clean or does it just look that way because there’s no independent anti-corruption body? Given what ICAC has dug up in NSW it might be time to set up a national commission and find out for ourselves.