The peak union body for the ACT has backed the Legislative Assembly ethics adviser's view that a proposed integrity commission present fewer public findings than its NSW counterpart.
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Five submissions received before the May 19 deadline were published on the website of the committee inquiring about the integrity commission.
UnionsACT's submission, published on the organisation's own website, supported the commission's creation in principle, though said it was not convinced "there is strong evidence of serious corruption or a culture of corruption in the ACT amongst elected officials, senior public servants or political party officials".
"Nonetheless, corruption does not stop at state borders," the submission said.
"A strong regime of transparency would ensure that serious corruption is not imported into the ACT."
UnionsACT felt the commission's powers should be limited to investigation, without public findings like those of the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption.
It echoed Legislative Assembly ethics and integrity adviser Stephen Skehill's view in his 20-point submission to the inquiry.
He recommended that the investigations be conducted "behind closed doors" until criminal charges were laid.
Public hearings, he said, could dissuade informants from giving evidence or "risk unwarranted damage to the reputation and livelihood of potentially innocent persons who are the subject of such complaint or allegation, or who may be subjected to attack by those defending those accused".
Mr Skehill recommended the commission be given the power to apply to the Supreme Court for search warrants and summon people to give evidence under oath or affirmation, but would refer matters to the Director of Public Prosecutions rather than laying or prosecuting criminal charges.
Former ABC journalist Quentin Dempster, who covered Queensland's Fitzgerald inquiry and NSW's Wood Royal Commission into police corruption, submitted a revised 2015 paper he wrote for a NSW Law Society forum on the importance of a " journalist-lawyer tag team" to expose corruption.
"Even if substantially true, a journalist's initial reporting can simply be ignored or dismissed by government confident that in the 24 hour news cycle the public will move on," he wrote.
"Formal follow-up to journalistic exposure in the form of judicial inquiries or, better, a standing national anti-corruption commission, is the next logical step to cover public administration."
The submission also included notes from interviews and emails with former ICAC commissioner David Ipp and former Queensland commissioner Tony Fitzgerald.
"The success of any integrity commission would of course depend almost entirely on the courage, resourcefulness, judgement, professionalism and competence of its appointed officials, meta data and financial analysts, investigators and IT specialists and the trust with which the new institution was regarded by the public," he said.
Victoria's Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission made a submission outlining its role and scope since it was established in 2012, but did not make recommendations about the proposed ACT body.
Hearings on the proposed independent integrity commission will take place later this year.
