Anti-corruption watchdog left short changed in bud

The Rudd Government is obsessed with tokenism and spin in matters of National Security, Christopher Pyne, Shadow Minister for Justice and Border Protection said today.

The 2008 Budget shows that Australia’s national anti-corruption watchdog, the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity’s (ACLEI) activities are being crippled by under-funding.

“ACLEI was established by the Howard Government to root out corruption in federal agencies. Despite the Rudd Government’s promise to increase the size of the AFP, the Government has failed to adequately fund ACLEI proportionately to that increase,” Mr Pyne said.

Media reports indicate that a former head of ACLEI said the body needed a tenfold increase in investigation staff and substantial extra funding to be effective.

The same reports suggest ACLEI will be unable to perform duties such as wire tapping and covert operations, essential to root out corruption.

“While the Rudd Government trumpets increases to the size of the Australian Federal Police (which are illusory in themselves as they are backended to 2011-12) they are failing to resource agencies who watch the watchers,” Mr Pyne said.

“This lack of proper resourcing for oversight agencies has real consequences.

“In this case, those consequences pertain to the credibility of our national security agencies,” he said.

19th May 2008

Media Contact: Adam Howard