Our role

Our role

The role of the Commission

The Integrity Commission’s role is outlined in the Integrity Commission Act 2018 and the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2012.

The Commission receives and assesses reports regarding wrongdoing in the ACT public sector. The Commission's task is to decide whether a report of wrongdoing involves corruption, maladministration or conduct that poses a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety, or the environment. If the Commission decides that the report could involve this type of conduct, it may investigate the information or refer the report to another agency for investigation. The Commission will review investigations performed by other agencies and monitor how reports are dealt with to ensure just outcomes.

The Commission is able to investigate wrongdoing on its own initiative even in the absence of a report.

The Commission aims to:

• foster a proactive culture of reporting wrongdoing and review the way in which public sector entities investigate and deal with reports of wrongdoing;
• investigate, or deal with, alleged wrongdoing in the ACT public sector;
• refer suspected instances of criminality or wrongdoing to the appropriate authorities;
• prevent wrongdoing through research and mitigation efforts;
• ensure people who report wrongdoing are protected and treated respectfully;
• publish information about its investigations including what lessons may have been learned during an investigation;
• provide education programs and training programs; and,
• foster public confidence in the ACT Legislative Assembly and ACT public sector.

The functions of the Commission

The Commission's four main functions are to identify, investigate, and expose corruption, along with educating the ACT Public Service and community about corruption and it's harms.

The Commission's objectives also include:

• prioritising the investigation and exposure of serious corrupt conduct and systemic corrupt conduct;
• achieving a balance between the public interest in exposing corruption in public administration and the public interest in avoiding undue prejudice to a person’s reputation;
• cooperating with other integrity bodies and assisting in the prevention of corrupt conduct;
• educating public officials and the community about the detrimental effects of corrupt conduct on public administration and the community and the ways in which corrupt conduct can be prevented;
• assisting in improving the capacity of the public sector to prevent corrupt conduct;
• receiving and assessing public interest disclosures;
• ensuring people who make public interest disclosures are protected and treated respectfully;
• ensuring public interest disclosures are properly investigated and dealt with; and,
• ensuring that appropriate consideration is given to the interests of people who make public interest disclosures, the people who are the subject of the disclosures, and those who assist in related investigations.

Functions of the Commission are also explained in this infographic.

Corrupt conduct is defined in section 9 of the Integrity Commission Act 2018.