The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) is an agency of the Government of New South Wales, Australia. It is responsible for eliminating and investigating corrupt activities and enhancing the integrity of the state's public administration. The commission was established in 1989, pursuant to the , modelled after the ICAC in Hong Kong.
It is led by a chief commissioner, appointed for a fixed five-year term, and two part-time commissioners. In November 2016, NSW Premier Mike Baird suggested a move from a sole commissioner to a three-commissioner system. However, this was strongly criticised by two former ICAC commissioners as weakening and politicising the organisation, leading to the resignation of then-Commissioner Megan Latham. The chief commissioner is currently John Hatzistergos, former state Labor minister and District Court judge. Helen Murrell and Paul Lakatos are the part-time commissioners.
The chief commissioner is required to submit a report on ICAC activities to the Parliament of New South Wales and, whilst independent of the politics of government, reports informally to the Premier of New South Wales. The commission is charged with educating public authorities, officials and members of the public about corruption.
Inspector
The Inspector of the Independent Commission Against Corruption is an independent statutory officer who holds the ICAC accountable for the exercise of its functions. The inspector is not answerable to ICAC and is located in separate premises. Their role includes audits of the ICAC's operations to ensure compliance with the law; dealing with complaints about the conduct of the ICAC and its officers; and assessing the effectiveness and appropriateness of ICAC procedures.
The inspector has extensive powers to investigate the conduct of the ICAC, including obtaining documents and requiring ICAC officers to attend before them and answer questions. The inspector can also sit as a royal commissioner in order to conduct investigations; in this capacity they can compel witnesses to provide evidence. The inspector can deal with complaints about the ICAC which concern abuses of power, impropriety, misconduct, delays in investigation and maladministration.
Structure and operation The ICAC has jurisdiction over state and local government in New South Wales. This extends to parliamentarians, local councillors, the Governor of New South Wales, public servants, and staff of universities and state-owned corporations.But not now police: since 1996 the NSW Police Force has been subject to the Police Integrity Commission. Anyone can refer a matter to the commission. In 2014 it was estimated that less than one per cent out of around 3,000 complaints annually result in a public hearing. The commission has the coercive powers of a royal commission and can compel witnesses to testify. Public hearings are designed to act as a preventative measure against corruption. Where the ICAC rules that an official has acted corruptly, the charges are referred to the criminal justice system for consideration by the Director of Public Prosecutions.
There are only limited controls on admissible evidence, which may be obtained by compulsion and coercion or other means that would make it inadmissible in a court of law. It also has telephone intercept powers. Often evidence used in ICAC cases cannot subsequently be used in related criminal proceedings. There is no right to silence for witnesses and failure to testify (along with misleading the commission) can lead to five-year jail terms. While the ICAC cannot impose custodial sentences (other than for procedural matters), it can recommend that criminal charges be considered by the Department of Public Prosecution. In practice it has achieved very few convictions and some of its findings, such as that against former Premier Nick Greiner, have been found to go beyond its powers.
From its establishment until November 2016, the ICAC was led by a single commissioner, who, although the agency belongs within the New South Wales Premier's Department, reported directly to the presiding officers of the Parliament of New South Wales. The commissioner served a single five-year term and could not be dismissed except by the Governor. Following the passage of the Independent Commission Against Corruption Amendment Act 2016 (NSW), the agency was reconstituted as a three-member commission, comprising a chief commissioner and two other commissioners; and in order for a public hearing to be held as part of any corruption investigation, the chief commissioner and at least one other commissioner must agree.
Development The 1980s saw a number of corruption scandals break around Australia, involving the Labor administrations in New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia (WA Inc), the Liberal government in Tasmania and the Nationals administration in Queensland (Fitzgerald Inquiry).
In 1988, Nick Greiner, a Liberal, ran against Labor in New South Wales on an anti-corruption platform and won. Introducing legislation to establish the ICAC, Greiner told Parliament:
History The ICAC's first task was to investigate activities of the previous Wran and Unsworth governments. No charges were recommended by the commission.
In 1992, the ICAC ruled that Premier Greiner's offer of a government job to former minister Terry Metherell was an act of "technical" corruption. Although the charges were later dismissed by the courts, the four independent MPs on whom the premier relied for a majority in the Legislative Assembly indicated that they would no longer support his leadership. Greiner resigned and was replaced by John Fahey.
In 2008, the ICAC documented entrenched corruption within RailCorp. A range of offences were investigated, involving staff at many levels, and A$19 million was found to have been improperly allocated.
The ICAC began focusing on ministerial level corruption from 2010. In November 2010, it released a report titled Investigation into Corruption Risks Involved in Lobbying. It recommended the implementation of a new lobbying regulatory scheme to promote transparency and to reduce both the risk of corruption and public distrust.
In 2014, the ICAC investigated alleged corrupt activities relating to a water infrastructure company. Premier Barry O'Farrell was asked if he recalled being given an expensive bottle of wine by the company's CEO. O'Farrell said he had no recollection of such a gift. Evidence of the gift was produced the next day, and O'Farrell announced his resignation as party leader and premier. Later during the same case, NSW Police Minister Mike Gallacher resigned as minister following allegations that he been involved in obtaining an illegal political donation. The ICAC ultimately did not proceed with corruption charges.The Australian, 31 August 2016, page 11
On 15 April 2015, following an ICAC investigation into alleged conduct of Margaret Cunneen , the High Court of Australia found that the ICAC had exceeded its authority based on a misinterpretation of "corrupt conduct" in the relevant law. This raised questions about whether the ICAC had exceeded its powers in other high-profile corruption investigations. Nonetheless, in May 2015 the ICAC referred the allegations against Cunneen to the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions; in July 2015 the Solicitor General determined that a prosecution was not warranted.
Some of the ICAC's investigations into governmental corruption led it to recommend legislation to cancel some mining licences without compensation, and such legislation had been enacted by the NSW parliament. While the High Court rejected challenges to the validity of that legislation, its Cuneen decision raised questions about the validity of the investigations. The ICAC disagreed with the High Court's interpretation of the relevant law and urged the NSW government to legislate to broaden its powers retrospectively, so as to legalise its earlier actions as well as current investigations. However, the inspector of the ICAC, former Supreme Court judge David Levine , criticised the ICAC's response as an "improper and dismissive attack on the judgment of the highest court in the land", and warned against "any knee-jerk legislative reaction".
On 6 May 2015, the NSW government rushed through the parliament, with all-party support, a bill to amend the Independent Commission Against Corruption Act. The amendments, which came into effect immediately, reversed the Cunneen decision; they also amended the principal Act so as to validate retrospectively the investigations that had led to the recent convictions, the convictions affected by the Cunneen interpretation of the ICAC's powers, and other ICAC investigations. The High Court dismissed a subsequent challenge against the amendment act.Duncan v Independent Commission Against Corruption HCA 32, in AustLII.
In October 2021, the ICAC announced an investigation into whether Premier Gladys Berejiklian had breached public trust or encouraged corrupt behaviour during her romantic relationship with MP Daryl Maguire. In response, Berejiklian announced her intention to resign as premier and as a member of the Legislative Assembly. On 29 June 2023, the ICAC found that Berejiklian had engaged in "serious corrupt conduct" by refusing to report Maguire's corrupt statements to her, but did not recommend criminal charges against her as ICAC evidence is not admissible in criminal court. In September 2023, Berejiklian lodged legal action to seek a judicial review of the ICAC's findings against her.
2026 investigation Into NSW Liberal Party In July 2026, the ICAC started public hearings for Operation Rosny. This is an investigation into allegations that senior New South Wales Liberal Party officials had been involved in a smear campaign to oust David Chandler, the NSW building commissioner, and former police minister, Liberal Party MP David Elliott, at the behest of the fugitive property developer Jean Nassif. Under NSW law, property developers and their proxies are prohibited from making political donations. Nassif, who fled Australia to avoid arrest for alleged fraud offences, had supported a group of conservative Christian, right-wing Liberals known as "The Reformers". The group, which included two brothers of former Premier Dominic Perrottet, was formed to influence government decisions, for branch stacking and to influence preselection for Liberal candidates.
Nassif allegedly paid a total of $2,000,000 AUD to Reformers members; hotel baron Michael O’Hara paid $165,000; and Catholic Schools NSW, a peak body for around 600 private diocese Catholic schools, donated over $250,000.
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