Wednesday, 30 August 2023

Privileges committees

Appointment of a Parliamentary Integrity Adviser for the 60th Parliament

Paul HAMER (Box Hill) (10:26): I would also like to speak about the appointment of the parliamentary integrity adviser for the 60th Parliament, which was actually a decision of the joint privileges committees. It was not a decision of the Integrity and Oversight Committee, and it did not involve discussions of IBAC. I want to commence by passing on my congratulations to the new parliamentary integrity adviser, who was appointed through the committee’s report, Professor Charles Sampford, who recently commenced his four-year term. I have not had the opportunity to meet Professor Sampford, but Professor Sampford does come with an exemplary pedigree in terms of handling integrity matters. He has had a long and distinguished career in integrity and accountability and parliamentary ethics. He is a board member of the Accountability Round Table and has held positions as president of the International Institute for Public Ethics, convener of the World Ethics Forum, board member of the World Bank’s Global Integrity Alliance and civil society member of the Open Government Forum. He is also the foundation dean of law, a research professor in ethics and the director of the Institute for Ethics, Governance and Law at Griffith University. So he is a very highly credentialed person to fill that role. I also want to put on the record my thanks to Mr Ray Purdey, who filled the role of the parliamentary integrity adviser in the 59th Parliament.

The role of the parliamentary integrity adviser is a very important role in this place. It was initiated by a resolution in 2019 coming out of some incidents that had occurred in parliaments preceding that, some of which have been outlined by the member for Gippsland South. The role of the integrity adviser is to be able to provide general advice to members on integrity matters connected to their role as a member of Parliament, including issues relating to claiming parliamentary allowances, conflicts of interest and the application of the members code of conduct. The integrity adviser also has an important role in the education and training of members so that members are fully aware of their responsibilities.

It is really important for us as members of Parliament and for Parliament as an institution of government and democracy in this state that there is strong integrity amongst all members and that we do the right thing and we are seen to be doing the right thing. I know from experience that from time to time – and I am sure all members have this – there will be approaches made by perhaps members of the community or larger organisations who are providing or offering some sort of service or initiative, and I think it is always important that members have the opportunity to take a step back and talk with the integrity adviser just to make sure and confirm that that is an appropriate role and that anything that is accepted is appropriately declared in accordance with the code of conduct. So it is a really important role that the parliamentary integrity adviser has in this place, and I do wish Professor Sampford all the best during his tenure.

As with all of these appointments, it does require a lot of work by the committee to come to the deliberation. There are 14 members on the committee, but it was particularly the subcommittee members who made this decision, and I want to thank Minister Harriet Shing and Georgie Crozier in the other place, and Minister Lily D’Ambrosio and Mr Wells, the member for Rowville, in this place, for their work in the subcommittee.