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About the review

The Parliamentary Crime and Corruption Committee (the Committee) is conducting a review of the operation of section 329 of the Crime and Corruption Act 2001 (the Act).

The primary role of the Committee is to monitor and review the performance of the Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC). One of the ways the Committee fulfils this role is to consider complaints about the conduct or activities of the Commission or its officers.

Section 329 of the Act provides the CCC with a duty to notify the Committee and Parliamentary Crime and Corruption Commissioner of conduct that is suspected to involve, or may involve, improper conduct.

In 2014, the Act was amended which significantly changed the requirements under which the Commission is required to notify the Committee. The change was recommended by the former Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Committee in Report No. 90, 54th Parliament - Inquiry into the Crime and Misconduct Commission’s release and destruction of Fitzgerald Inquiry documents.

Currently, section 329(4) of the Act defines improper conduct as—

(a) disgraceful or improper conduct in an official capacity; or

(b) disgraceful or improper conduct in a private capacity that reflects seriously and adversely on the commission; or

(c) conduct that would, if the person were an officer in a unit of public administration, be corrupt conduct; or

(d) disclosure of confidential information without the required authorisation, whether or not the disclosure contravenes an Act; or

(e) failure to ensure—

(i) a register kept by the commission under an Act is up to date and complete; or

(ii) all required documentation is on a file kept by the commission and correctly noted on a register kept by the commission under an Act; or

(f) exercise of a power without obtaining the required authorisation, whether inadvertently or deliberately; or

(g) noncompliance with a policy or procedural guideline set by the commission, whether inadvertently or deliberately, that is not of a minor or trivial nature; or

(h) exercise of a power conferred on the person under this or another Act in a way that is an abuse of the power.

Section 329 of the Act also sets out the obligations of the Chairperson, Deputy Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of the CCC to notify the Committee and Parliamentary Commissioner of suspected improper conduct in relation to particular CCC officers.

The Committee stated in Report No. 97, 55th Parliament - Review of the Crime and Corruption Commission that given the changes to the notification requirements were still relatively new, that it was too early for the Committee to make an assessment as to whether there ought to be any refining of the provision.

The Committee monitored the notifications received from the CCC following the tabling of Report No. 97 and resolved to conduct this review.

View: Crime and Corruption Act 2001
View: Report No. 90
View: Report No. 97

Terms of reference

The Committee’s review focused on section 329 of the Act in relation to:

• the definition of improper conduct
• the operation of the provision with respect to notifications received by the Committee and Parliamentary Commissioner, and
• any other matter the Committee considers appropriate.

The Committee’s review will not consider individual complaints about the Commission or commission officers.

Timeline

Submissions closed: 16 October 2017 - refer to ‘View Submissions’ tab above
Public hearing:          8 June 2018 - view transcript 
Report tabled on:     17 December 2019 - view report