Legislation to create a National Anti-Corruption Commission has been introduced to parliament, with some crossbenchers already flagging that they will push for changes to provide greater scrutiny.
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus tabled the legislation this morning, saying it was evidence of Labor's commitment to improve trust in politics.
He said that it will have the power to assess ministers, statutory office holders, employees and contractors.
It will have the discretion to initiate inquiries on its own initiative or in response to referrals from anyone, including members of the public and whistleblowers.
Referrals can be anonymous. It will be able to investigate criminal and non-criminal conduct before or after its establishment. After yesterday revealing that would only be the case in exceptional circumstances, Crossbench MPs flagged they intend to push for more scrutiny by the commission, he said the commission would have the power to hold public hearings.
The bill indicates that public hearings would only take place in exceptional circumstances, but Greens integrity spokesperson David Shoebridge said this was not best practice.
In the last 24 hours, we've seen the Labor government go back towards something closer to Scott Morrison's model. That is not good for fighting corruption, he said.