Tasmania’s Integrity Commission pleads for more resources to fulfil watchdog role effectively
Tasmania’s Integrity Commission has issued a plea for extra funding, claiming it barely has the resources to meet public expectations, let alone to enforce new powers recommended in an independent review.
Chief Commissioner Greg Melick said the body’s current resourcing made it impossible to provide thorough oversight of Tasmania’s approximately 40,000 public servants.
“We have the equivalent of less than five full-time employees in our complaints and oversight teams combined,” Mr Melick said.
“As skilled and motivated as our staff are, it is not possible within our current resourcing to thoroughly oversight the some 40,000 or so public sector workers in Tasmania, including the over 1,400 police officers.”
Former war crimes prosecutor Regina Weiss last week recommended the Integrity Commission be granted extra powers it can use when investigating police officer misconduct, with Labor and the Greens putting pressure on the government to implement it immediately.
But Mr Melick said the commission could not take on extra powers without an injection of funding and staff.
“We strive within our current resourcing to do the best we can do. However, on our current budget, we cannot provide the level of investigation or oversight that the report recommends,” he said.
The commission, which has come under criticism for the length of time investigations take to be completed, had a budget of $3.7 million in the 2023-24 financial year, up from $3.57 million in 2022-23.
The Tasmanian government resolved to review the Integrity Commission’s resourcing earlier this year as part of its agreement with three Jacqui Lambie Network MPs.
The agreement states the commission “will be reviewed with an eye to giving it greater capacity to conduct its work”, but the government has yet to provide further details.
A spokesperson said the government valued the Integrity Commission’s work, had increased the body’s funding and had “every confidence in its ability to undertake its duties”.
Police Minister Felix Ellis said the government was working with Tasmania Police on the recommendations proposed by Ms Weiss.
Labor leader Dean Winter said the Integrity Commission’s comments were “really concerning”.
“It feels like the Liberal government has deliberately left the Integrity Commission with less resources than it needs and we have seen dozens of investigations which have been ongoing for a very long period of time,” he said.
“Tasmanians need to have faith and confidence in the Integrity Commission and all of our other statutory bodies.
“But when you have got a situation like this where the body says it doesn’t have the resources to do its job properly, I think that’s really concerning.”
Greens MLC Cassy O’Connor said the “usually quiet” commission’s “oxygen-clear” request needed to be granted.
“Whether the Integrity Commission gets the coercive powers they need or not, one thing is certain, they need additional funding,” she said.
SOURCE: ABCNEWS