A South Australian corruption watchdog has quit amid her ongoing concerns over what she claims are weaker provisions.
Independent Commissioner Against Corruption Ann Vanstone KC says her decision to resign three years before her term expires was prompted mostly by professional reasons.
“The 2021 amendments to the legislation governing public integrity in SA damaged the scheme, under the guise of making it more ‘effective and efficient’,” she said on Tuesday.
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The former Supreme Court judge said the public interest had not been served by narrowing the definition of corruption and isolating the commission from the intelligence sources, or by “divorcing us from the prosecution process”.
“Absurdly, we are not even allowed to speak to the prosecutor, meaning they are denied access to the expertise and knowledge of commission investigators who best know the matter,” she said.
“Gagging” the commission on issues of integrity in public administration and passing the legal fees of those investigated by the watchdog and convicted of corruption offences onto taxpayers also did not serve the public’s best interests, Vanstone said.
“On multiple occasions, I have pointed out the significant problems within the scheme to this government and the last, and to the parliamentary committee that oversees us,” she said.
“It is not that the legislation is wholly unworkable, but it does need to be as robust and effective as possible.”
Vanstone said she had remained in the role despite her “frustrations” with the changes.
“I perhaps naively expected that the weaknesses and issues I have identified would be addressed,” she said.
“That has not happened and I have no confidence that it would, even if I stayed until the end of my term …(and) I have run out of steam.
“I hope the next commissioner will succeed where I have failed.”
SA Attorney-General Kyam Maher said the government thanked Vanstone for her service, and it would start recruiting for her replacement in the coming weeks.
Vanstone will officially step down from the role on September 6.