Planned legislation to create a national anti-corruption watchdog will be finalised by the end of the year, 12 months after it was first announced.
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Labor has accused the coalition government of dragging its feet on its proposed Commonwealth Integrity Commission.
"Ten months after announcing the need for one and putting out a discussion paper, there is no proposal before the parliament, and no sign it's even on the government's agenda for the rest of this year," shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus told the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday.
But Attorney-General Christian Porter said the corruption watchdog is on the way.
"I am finalising a draft bill to form the basis of public consultation and expect to finalise a bill by the end of the year," Mr Porter said in a statement.
"The experience at the state level has been that this is the worst possible area in which to engage in policy on the run.
"This is one area where the hard detailed work must come before the headlines."
Some Liberal MPs were concerned the national corruption watchdog would become a powerful star chamber without oversight, while Labor believes the coalition's model is too toothless.
The prime minister was forced to announce the proposed creation of the Commonwealth Integrity Commission in December, after losing his majority in the lower house.
The coalition's model will create two divisions - a law enforcement integrity division and a public sector integrity division.
The CIC will have the power to conduct public hearings in its law enforcement division, but the public sector integrity division will not have the power to make public findings of corruption.
Instead, it will investigate and refer potential criminal conduct to the Commonwealth director of public prosecutions to proceed through the courts.
The Greens on Monday got a motion through the Senate calling for a corruption watchdog with significantly stronger powers than the coalition is proposing.
But on Tuesday the motion was shut down in the lower house, where the coalition commands a majority.
In May, former judge Stephen Charles QC said the coalition's national proposal was weak and would ensure politicians and bureaucrats escape public hearings.
Mr Charles, who set up the Victorian corruption watchdog, says under the coalition's plan, hearings will be held in secret and information will only be made public at the point where charges are laid.
Australian Associated Press