
14 October 2022
Submission To The Joint Select Committee On National Anti-corruption Commission Legislation
Dear Secretary, Since 1943 the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) has undertaken and published research to defend and extend the values of individual freedom, legal rights, and the rule of law in Australia. The purpose of this letter is to share with the Joint Select Committee on National Anti-Corruption Commission Legislation the IPA’s analysis of the proposed National Anti-Corruption Commission

5 November 2020
Commonwealth Integrity Commission An Illiberal Kangaroo Court
Free market think tank the Institute of Public Affairs has called on Attorney-General Christian Porter to abandon plans for the federal government’s proposed Commonwealth Integrity Commission (CIC). The exposure draft of the Commonwealth Integrity Commission Bill 2020 was released by Mr Porter on Monday. The draft legislation would confer significant coercive powers to the CIC to investigate and compel evidence,

30 October 2020
We Need To Put Corruption Watchdogs On Short Leash
Labor’s push for a so-called federal anti-corruption body would be an undemocratic and illiberal forum for legalised defamation to be weaponised against political opponents. The most recent call for a federal Independent Commission Against Corruption comes on the heels of last week’s revelations that the CEO of Australia Post and the chairman of the Australian Securities & Investments Commission had

1 June 2018
A Banking Royal Commission By Show Trial
The hearings of the banking royal commission have, at different times, resembled a cross between the Soviet show trials of the 1930s and the American TV show L.A. Law of the 1980s. All those Turnbull government ministers who opposed a royal commission into the banks – on the grounds that policy should be made after careful and sober consideration and not as a

30 January 2018
Government Must Reject NSW ICAC-Style Kangaroo Court
“Bill Shorten’s call for a federal corruption commission should be rejected by the government and by anyone that believes in basic legal rights,” said Simon Breheny, Director of Policy at the free market think tank the Institute of Public Affairs. “Introducing a NSW ICAC-style kangaroo court into the federal sphere is a good idea if you believe in trampling on