'Let's have the debate': Haines gives government December 3 deadline on Integrity Commission bill

After more than a year of work consulting with legal experts and fellow parliamentarians and raking over criticisms of other proposed models, Dr Haines will on Monday introduce a bill for a federal integrity commission.

But unless the government allows it to be debated in the House of Representatives, the bill faces going no further.

Without naming them, Dr Haines said government MPs have been involved in consultation on the bill, and some elements of her proposed model come directly from those conversations.

It's those sitting on the government benches who are firmly in her sights when she asks all MPs to consider what they will do if the government continues to stall on the prospect of a federal integrity body.

Dr Haines has marked December 3 as a deadline, that if debate isn't allowed on the bill by then, she will attempt to suspend standing orders to make it happen.

She is "optimistic," that such a move would be successful, with support from Labor, other crossbenchers, and at least two government MPs who have been involved in her work.

The date is auspicious - it's the two year anniversary of when Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he did have "plans" for an integrity commission.

"I am calling on the integrity of every member of the 46^th Parliament, to ask themselves the question, 'should we be debating a bill on integrity, yes we should'," Dr Haines said.

"'And if I'm not willing to debate a bill on integrity, what does that say about my own integrity?,'" the member for Indi in Victoria's North-East said members should ask themselves.

"If I haven't got assurance from the Attorney by [early December] that I can debate it, then I would be looking to bring it on for debate. That gives my colleagues [time]. I'm mindful of what a big thing it is for someone from the government to cross the floor."

The bill creates a body called the Australian Federal Integrity Commission (AFIC) that would answer to Parliament through a joint committee, in a model similar to that in place for the Auditor-General.

Sitting underneath the commissioner would be a Whistleblower Protection Commissioner, a Law Enforcement Integrity Commissioner, and three assistant commissioners, with support functions for assessment, investigations and inquiries; research and public interest; and education, training and prevention.

It also includes a Parliamentary Standards Commissioner and Parliamentary Integrity Advisor, who would uphold a parliamentary code of conduct, also part of the bill.

Dr Haines says her bill answers some criticisms of the Greens bill for an integrity commission that has already passed the Senate, but not the House. The commission would have the same investigatory powers of a royal commission, allow for public hearings, can take referrals from anyone, and has a wider definition of corruption than the purely criminal one in the government model. It also has key differences from the model put forward by the government, using one system for the whole of the public service, and has the ability to investigate matters retrospectively.

"This is a good bill, people tell me it's a good bill. It's not a perfect bill, but let's have the debate and make it perfect, or as perfect as it can be," Dr Haines said.

"This bill has many safeguards, and it's responded to what MPs who I have spoken to for months have told me."

Those safeguards include the ability for a person summoned to the commission to have the ability to ask for a private hearing, and for supplementary exoneration reports to be tabled in Parliament after a matter is finalised, clearing the names of those who have appeared at hearings if no findings have been made against them.

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It's been 22 months since the federal government signalled it would introduce a Commonwealth Integrity Commission and released a consultation paper on its proposed model.

While Attorney-General Christian Porter was presented with draft legislation in December last year, it hasn't been presented to the public.

The reason for the delay, according to Prime Minister Scott Morrison, was that public servants couldn't be distracted from dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite bushfires that devastated much of her electorate, two COVID lockdowns, and the border closure between NSW and Victoria which "dwarfed" the other three issues in terms of the work it required of Dr Haines as a local member, this bill has been created out of her office, without a public service, or a party structure.

The case for an integrity commission only grows stronger, Dr Haines said, easily listing almost ten matters from this Parliament that should be referred to such a body, including the Australia Post watches as gifts for executives, and the expenses issues at the top of corporate regulator ASIC revealed only last week.