The ACT's Commissioner for Standards, Ken Crispin QC, has rejected ACT Policing's central argument that it should be exempt from oversight by the proposed territory anti-corruption commission.
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Mr Crispin, a former Supreme Court judge, ACT Director of Public Prosecutions and the current ACT commissioner for parliamentary standards, Mr Crispin, outlined his position in a late submission to a Legislative Assembly inquiry on the commission.
Chief Police Officer Justine Saunders has pushed for an exemption from commission oversight of police as the police already report to the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity, as federal agency.
But Mr Crispin has written to the committee saying that he does not agree with "the view that the Commission should be limited to investigating complaints only when there is no existing institution" with the relevant powers or jurisdiction.
He also wrote that the commission's work would be "seriously hampered" if it were forced to wait until another agency with such powers "proved unwilling to do so or failed to address the issues as effectively or strenuously as it should".
While he did not explicitly mention police oversight, the existing oversight by ACLEI has been the central argument police have put to the committee in the push for exemption.
Mr Crispin's position also lends weight to a raft of other groups and prominent individuals that have urged the committee ensure police are included in the anti-corruption commission's remit.
He also wrote that the commission should be given a "comparable provision" to take over an investigation into allegations of corruption, from the federal police, similar to the powers of the NSW ICAC.
"I would expect that ongoing discussions between the commissioner and ACT Chief Police Officer would be sufficient to ensure that any initial objection or resistance is soon overcome," Mr Crispin wrote.
He also wrote that there may also be cases where the commission "forms the view that the involvement by another institution should be terminated".
Such cases, he wrote, could include concerns about conflicts of interest or "a fear that the integrity of the investigation might be compromised by leaks of information about matters such as the impending execution of search warrants".
Mr Crispin also wrote that any allegations made against MLAs, not involving "criminal dishonesty", should remain the purview of the Commissioner of Standards position, but those involving alleged criminality should go to the anti-corruption, police, or both.
He also agreed with the Assembly's Ethics and Integrity Advisor, Stephen Skehill, that the commission needed to be adequately staffed and funded to fulfil its duties, "without having to repeatedly go cap in hand to others".
Readers can register to attend a University of Canberra forum on the proposed commission with former Canberra Times editor-at-large Jack Waterford and 2016 ACT independent candidate Marea Fatseas on Thursday at 12.30pm at the Theo Notaras Multicultural Centre on London Circuit.
