UPDATED: The Finocchiaro CLP Government’s legislation to roll the ICAC and Ombudsman offices into a new Integrity and Ethics Commission has been roundly rejected by multiple national and international integrity experts as weakening independent oversight and creating potential “political interference” in the new commission, with the Centre for Public Integrity recommending the bill be withdrawn and sent back for review to ensure the NT’s “broken integrity system” is fixed properly.

In a potentially unprecedented universal denouncement of a government’s integrity bill, multiple bodies called the CLP’s move to consolidate the NT’s integrity functions into a new ‘super commission’ a “dangerous concentration of power” with weak oversights that will not effectively address ongoing corruption in the Northern Territory.

The government’s move to establish the new commission without any public consultation was also heavily criticised by integrity experts, with questions raised over how senior officers will be appointed to the new agency.

“This rushed and closed process has yielded a flawed bill,” the Centre for Public Integrity said in a submission.

“Moreover, the process itself is likely to further reduce public trust in government because it provides a reasonable impression that the NT Parliament is not serious about really reforming the NT’s broken integrity system.”

But the CLP used its numbers to pass the bill last night.

Other bodies rebuking the CLP’s new commission include Transparency International, the Australian Democracy Network, the Australasian Council of Auditors General, NAAJA, and the former Federal Ombudsman and chair of Fairer Future, Allan Asher.

The experts’ views were canvassed by independent Member for Johnston Justine Davis as part of her ongoing “community scrutiny forum”, which has fulfilled the role of the Parliament’s legislative scrutiny committee, because the government rejected using that committee to assess its integrity bill, while also not accepting any public input.

Ms Davis said the CLP Government’s move to institute such a major change in the integrity processes of the Northern Territory without going through a proper public process has failed the community.

“Legislation affecting the integrity system should strengthen public trust, not erode it,” she said. “This bill fails that fundamental test.”

Ms Davis added she was concerned the wording of the proposed legislation could allow the government to appoint its own people to “assistant commissioner” positions within the new commission, that would not be considered “statutory” positions, thereby destroying any perception of independence. It is also unclear how the new over-arching commissioner will be chosen.

“In the Northern Territory, we have ongoing issues around integrity and corruption, and we need to look at them,” Ms Davis said at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon.

“We know that there has been a long history of problems with the Independent Commissioner Against Corruption, that’s why this is happening [and] I welcome that.

“I am certainly not against reform. I think we need to do it, but we need to do it properly. We need to do it in a way that is actually going to strengthen our integrity agencies and protect Territorians.

“This bill concentrates extraordinary power in one person and removes critical checks and balances that protect Territorians.”

What else is wrong with the CLP’s new integrity bill?

The Finocchiaro CLP Government used their numbers on Tuesday night to pass the bill to establish the new Integrity and Ethics Commission in Parliament, which will see the current Office of the ICAC, Office of the Ombudsman and Information Commissioner, and the Health and Community Services Complaints Commission merged into the new super commission, despite the Office of the Ombudsman and the HCSCC previously being separated in 2011 due to conflict of interest issues.

Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro previously said the new commission will “streamline integrity oversight” while reinforcing “public confidence”. In a statement on Tuesday night after the bill passed, she said the new commission shows “our commitment to the highest standards of integrity and to strengthening confidence in the accountability of government”.

But the integrity groups that reviewed the proposed legislation said they hold serious concerns about the bill and the potential for “political interference”.

“Conflict of interests, poor governance and perceptions of corruption have cast a long shadow over [the] NT’s integrity agencies, so reform is badly needed,” said Transparency International Australia CEO Clancy Moore.

“Yet [this] bill, which includes combining four integrity agencies under one commissioner creates obvious risks around conflict of interests and political interference.

“The Finocchiaro Government must put the bill under the microscope of a parliamentary inquiry and include important guardrails to enshrine the agency’s independence, deal with conflict of interests and ensure appointments are based on merit with transparent selection criteria.”

That did not happen.

Transparency International Australia also expressed concerns around allowing an Acting Commissioner to be appointed who is currently employed as a “public officer” with the government, which could lead to someone investigating their own department and making decisions that affect that department.

Questions around how the full-time Integrity Commissioner and Inspector are appointed were also raised, with Transparency International stating it held concerns about appointments made “without an independent selection process, or public merit criteria”.

The appointment of a CEO for the new department, which would be separate from the Commissioner, was also criticised for lacking any provisions for proper appointment, including eligibility criteria and a stated hiring process.

Insufficient funding was also not addressed in the proposed legislation, which Transparency International said was a “critical weakness that threatens the operational autonomy necessary for effective anti-corruption work”.

The Australian Democracy Network, which campaigns for reforms to make democracy more transparent, fair and accountable, called on the CLP to withdraw its flawed bill, which it says was rushed and “problematically excluded a central anti-corruption office”.

“The bill produces a dangerous concentration of power and weak oversight over critical government integrity functions,” said Andrew Beaton, the ADN’s campaigns director.

“Strong, independent integrity bodies are crucial in a fair and functioning democracy. We’re deeply concerned that a flawed process, without proper consultation, has resulted in a rushed proposal with structural risks.”

The CLP defended its move to consolidate the NT’s integrity systems into the one body in Parliament on Tuesday, which it said was based on recommendations from the rushed review by ICAC Inspector Bruce McClintock and NT Judge Graham Hiley earlier this year.

But the Centre for Public Integrity pulled some of that report’s findings apart, including its acknowledgement that previously consolidating the HCSCC and Ombudsman in the same office led to “potential and perceived conflicts of interest”, which also led to “situations where the same person would be investigating their own actions”.

“The government claims that the [ICAC] Inspector – the same Mr McClintock who co-authored the rushed and closed review – can manage these inevitable conflicts through a ‘built-in mechanism’,” the Centre for Public Integrity submission said.

“This approach, however, relies on the commissioner to self-identify any conflicts and report them. This kind of self-accountability is not a reliable way to overcome the inevitable array of conflicts.

“For this reason, this super-commission is likely to continue to lead to actual or perceived conflicts of interest that undermine the ability of the integrity system to secure public trust in government.”

The Centre for Public Integrity agreed that the NT’s integrity system needs to be reformed, but pointed out the majority of failures were due to “funding and leadership problems” with the current Office of the ICAC.

Opposition Labor Leader Selena Uibo said in Parliament that Labor would not support the bill.

“This Bill reduces oversight and opens up serious conflict of interest concerns at a time when Territorians expect stronger integrity protections, not weaker ones,” she said.

“The government has failed to demonstrate how its model will maintain independence or improve accountability.”

The legislation passed in Parliament Tuesday night. Ms Finocchiaro said in a statement that a “staged transition process” would now occur allowing “continuity of service” while the new commission is implemented. A national recruitment process “will now begin to secure a highly qualified inaugural commissioner”, she said.

The full transition is expected to become “operational in the first half of 2026,” Ms Finocchiaro said.