The peak body representing the public service in NSW says independent funding for the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) is needed now, ‘so the corruption watchdog can focus on its investigations rather than trying to find annual budget savings’.
Public Service Association (PSA) general secretary Stewart Little says, ‘Every year, budgetary pressure sees ICAC forced to go cap in hand to the premier for supplementary funding’.
He says the corruption watchdog is ‘hamstrung in its ability to sniff out corruption or run multiple investigations’.
‘The Berejiklian government is whittling it down to its smallest size in three decades’.
It comes as ICAC recommends that premier Gladys Berejiklian’s former lover, disgraced former NSW MP Daryl Maguire, face possible criminal charges for giving false evidence during a long-running inquiry into serious corruption within Canterbury Council.
During ICAC hearings in October 2020, prosecutors exposed phone calls between the pair that inferred deals around Badgerys Creek and a visa scheme where Chinese nationals would secure a regional migration visa, but not turn up to work.
