An anti-corruption body tasked with investigating government scandals and rorts, and given the power to "follow the money", will be established after the next election if the Labor Party wins, its leader has promised.
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Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese announced Labor's plans to create a national anti-corruption commission on Monday, which will hold politicians and public servants to account if they engage in corrupt conduct.
The planned body will given a broad jurisdiction to put allegations of government and bureaucratic corruption under the microscope, extending to statutory office holders, government agencies, parliamentarians, personal staff of politicians and other federal public officials.
The proposed extra powers will also allow investigations to cover private individuals and companies involved in government corruption.
Mr Albanese and shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus said it was time that federal corruption was taken seriously nearly three terms after the Liberal Party first promised to establish a body.
"After eight long years in office, the Liberals have failed to take any action to tackle corruption, leaving the Commonwealth the only Australian government without a body dedicated to tackling corruption by public officials," the joint statement said on Monday.
"The Morrison government's refusal to honour its election promise is allowing corruption to go unchecked, enabling ministers to avoid being held to account for their actions and undermining public confidence in the Australian government."
It comes as Labor's public service spokesperson Senator Katy Gallagher also announced she would introduce a bill to tackle the government's ongoing funding rorts allegations.
The changes, if passed, will force ministers who defy departmental advice on administering grants to report their decision to the Finance Minister within 30 days.
It will also legislate a requirement that the Finance Minister table those reports in the Parliament within five sitting days of receiving them.
"This will dramatically reduce the time ministers are able to hide their dodgy decisions from the Australian community from 16 months down to just a couple of months," she said.
"At a time when the Morrison government is racking up more than $1 trillion of debt and hundreds of millions of dollars of new spending, every dollar must be spent wisely, carefully and in the interests of the Australian community.
"This bill won't stop the Morrison government rorting but it is one small step that will shine a light on dodgy ministerial decision making."
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The government has been caught up in a number of questionable grants after the Australian National Audit Office released its scathing report into the administration of sports funding in early 2020.
It found the then-sports minister Senator Bridget McKenzie overlooked sports grants applications found worthy by government agency Sport Australia while her office ran its own assessment process favouring marginal electorates.
The Auditor-General's office found at least 43 per cent of the grants were ineligible by the time they were funded.
Earlier this month, another audit report found the government's process to select where commuter car park sites were built was not "demonstrably merit based".
More than three quarters of commuter car park sites were in Coalition-held seats, with 64 per cent located in Melbourne - two and a half times the number in Sydney.
Urban Infrastructure Minister Paul Fletcher and his department defended the government's conduct, but accepted all six of the watchdog's recommendations.
Funding programs for regional projects and safety infrastructure in communities have also raised questions.
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