National Anti-Corruption Commissioner faces grilling after shock resignation

National Anti-Corruption Commissioner Paul Brereton will face a grilling by senators at estimates hearings today following his shock resignation on Monday, as well as the departure of his deputy earlier this month.

The showdown comes amid growing calls for a reset of the three-year old corruption watchdog, and changes to how its commissioners are appointed.

It will also be the first time Mr Brereton will face questions since it was confirmed that a second "officer misconduct" investigation was underway into the NACC commissioner, in relation to his undisclosed and ongoing ties to defence.

Indi MP Helen Haines, who spearheaded a campaign for a national anti-corruption body, said it had let down the public.

"The focus on the commissioner has in many ways overshadowed what was to be, and what I am confident can be very very fine work from Australia's most powerful anti-corruption commission," Dr Haines said.

"We need to have a very clear and transparent recruitment process for our commissioners, these are extraordinarily important roles.

"[And] the public needs to see that conflicts of interest and perceived conflicts of interest are declared and managed."

Independent senator David Pocock has repeated his call for a statutory review of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) to be brought forward.

Brereton continued consulting for defence agency while NACC chief

Mr Brereton confirmed on Monday that he would finish his term next month, two years early, amid an "ongoing focus on matters relating to" him that were drawing attention away from the work of the NACC.

"While I will continue to resist any suggestion of impropriety, I have decided that it is time, now that the Commission is established and functioning with quality staff and good processes, to step aside and allow a new Commissioner to lead it into the next phase of its development," Mr Brereton said.

In 2024 Mr Brereton was found to have engaged in "officer misconduct" after failing to fully recuse himself from the NACC's decision on whether to investigate referrals from the 'Robodebt' royal commission.

And the commissioner remains under investigation by the NACC inspector over his ongoing ties to defence — first revealed by the ABC.

In documents released under freedom of information laws earlier in May, the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force (IGADF) confirmed it had consulted Mr Brereton on 11 occasions since his appointment to the NACC in 2023 on matters related to the Afghanistan war crimes inquiry.

It added that Mr Brereton needed to remain an ADF member so that he could continue to access 'protected' and 'secret' defence material.

The ABC revealed last year the outgoing commissioner was granted an age extension in order to continue to consult for the IGADF, which he had done on the NACC's time without it or the government's knowledge.

"Mr Brereton's tenure has been overshadowed by the inspector of the NACC's findings," Dr Haines said.

"And there is a second inspector's report on-foot, again, looking at officer misconduct."

NACC inspector Gail Furness, who oversees the agency, handed a draft report of her investigation into complaints surrounding Mr Brereton's defence ties to the commissioner a fortnight ago.

The inspector will also appear before Senate estimates on Tuesday, after the NACC.

Call to take NACC appointments out of politicians' hands

Greens and independent senators say now must be the chance to overhaul how senior staff are appointed to the watchdog, taking it out of the hands of politicians and given to an independent authority.

Currently a bipartisan parliamentary committee approves or rejects appointments recommended to it by the attorney-general, who then makes their recommendation to the governor-general for final sign off.

That process hit an early hurdle when former attorney-general Mark Dreyfus's first nominee for deputy commissioner, NSW Supreme Court Justice Stephen Rothman, was withdrawn over revelations he had previously run as a Labor candidate in the 1980s and contested for pre-selection for Labor in 2003.

The attorney-general said a "merit-based process" would commence to appoint a new NACC commissioner.

Centre for Public Integrity director Geoffrey Watson said Mr Brereton's resignation was a "positive" development and brought an opportunity for the NACC to rebuild and regain the public's confidence.

"The NACC so far has been nothing less than a disappointment," Mr Watson said.

"It doesn't have any of the characteristics I would've hoped for from an organisation like an anti-corruption body, such as an aggressive [and] open approach to trying to expose and eliminate corruption in our public sector."