In October 2017, a group of former Judges formed the National Integrity Committee under the auspices of the Australia Institute to prosecute the case for a national integrity commission. The Committee has been deeply involved in designing a set of principles necessary for an effective integrity commission including:

1. A Commission must be an independent body, provided with adequate resourcing to enable it to promote integrity and accountability and prevent, investigate and expose corruption;
2. It must have a broad jurisdiction, including the ability to investigate any conduct of any person that adversely affects or could adversely affect, the honest or impartial exercise of public administration;
3. It must be granted the full investigative powers of a Royal Commission to undertake its work;
4. A Commission must have the power to hold public hearings;
5. It should be governed by a Chief Commissioner and two Deputy Commissioners appointed by the Governor-General on recommendations from a bipartisan Parliamentary committee;
6. The Chief Commissioner must be, or qualified for appointment as, a judge or a retired judge of the Supreme or Federal Court;
7. The Commission must be empowered to make findings of fact, and, in appropriate cases, findings of corrupt conduct
8. The Commission must be subject to oversight to ensure that it always acts with absolute impartiality and fairness, and within its charter.

Membership

The members of the National Integrity Committee are:

• The Hon Stephen Charles AO KC
  former judge of the Victorian Supreme Court of Appeal
• The Hon David Harper AM KC
  former judge Victorian Supreme Court of Appeal
• The Hon Paul Stein AM KC
  former judge of the NSW Supreme Court of Appeal, former President of the Anti-Discrimination Board
• The Hon Anthony Whealy KC
  former judge of the NSW Supreme Court of Appeal
• The Hon Margaret White AO
  former judge of the Queensland Supreme Court of Appeal
• The Hon Carmel McLure AC KC
  former President of the Western Australian Supreme Court of Appeal
• The Hon Robert Redlich AM KC
  former judge of the Victorian Supreme Court of Appeal, former Commissioner of the Independent Broad Based Anti-Corruption Commission