There is currently no oversight of the NT’s anti-corruption body, with the Chief Minister admitting the former ICAC Inspector’s position lapsed last month and has not been filled, which may put the ICAC in breach of his own Act in an unusual situation the Opposition said was blatant “mismanagement” by the government.

It means any complaints about how the Office of the ICAC is operating and conducting its business are not currently being actioned, with Natasha Fyles suggesting that ICAC Michael Riches can email a generic email address and wait for a new Inspector to be appointed before any complaint is dealt with.

It was revealed in Parliament that former ICAC Inspector Bruce McClintock’s five-year term ended on September 27, which the government did not fill ahead of new legislation passed in Parliament this week that would provide for an Inspector to now be given a five-year extension.

The government did not pass the amendments to the ICAC Act before Mr McClintock’s contract expired, so he was not eligible for a second term. Ms Fyles did not explain why the position was not recruited – or the recruitment process even started – before his contract expired on September 27.

Opposition CLP Leader Lia Finocchiaro said the failure to appoint a new Inspector showed the Fyles Government was not serious about funding the ICAC properly, “having overlooked the appointment of an Inspector”.

“Labor’s mismanagement and disingenuous behaviour has resulted in this crucial position remaining vacant, creating a lack of transparency,” she said.

“It is important that the government take this role seriously and fill it with the appropriate person to undertake that important job.”

The Inspector’s role is to investigate and deal with complaints made about the ICAC and his staff, as well as review how the office is generally functioning, which has kept Mr McClintock busy over the last five years.

Under the previous ICAC Act, commissioner Michael Riches had 14 days to pass on any complaints he received about himself or his staff to the Inspector.

But under the new amendments to the Act, he now only has three days to report to seemingly nobody.

“If there is no Inspector that exists, this … means the ICAC commissioner is potentially non-compliant with his own obligations under this [Act],” Ms Finocchiaro said.

“Who are they giving notice to?”

Ms Fyles said Mr Riches could email any complaints to a generic email address for the Inspector and wait until a new Inspector is appointed to deal with the complaint, however Mr Riches said that there is no “entity” to forward complaints to currently.

Ms Fyles added that it would be similar to a situation where the Inspector is on leave, however, the role is part-time with the expectation complaints are dealt with in a timely manner.

“Complaints are still being taken and will be dealt with as soon as we appoint someone,” Ms Fyles claimed.

“There was difficulty in recruiting for that position and this [new] Act allows us to ensure we can have people for as long as possible.

“It is a difficult position to recruit to; it is a specialised field, being able to oversight integrity bodies.”

Ms Finocchiaro said the new ICAC Act had nothing to do with failing to recruit an Inspector.

“Territorians would find it astonishing that you could say you find it hard to recruit to that position but you have not commenced recruiting, even though the Inspector’s role and tenure is over and it is vacant,” she said. “If this is no different to when the Inspector was on leave, who is dealing with the workload of the Inspector?”

Ms Fyles did not answer that, suggesting she would have “a conversation” with Ms Finocchiaro later. She added that the government is currently assembling an advisory panel to evaluate applications for the Inspector role which she said was advertised “recently”.

Ms Riches said recruitment of the Inspector has nothing to do with him and is “entirely a matter for the government”. He added that no temporary solution had been found.

“In the absence of an Inspector, there is no entity to which a complaint can be forwarded (although no complaints have been received since the Inspector’s term ended),” Mr Riches said in an email.