Inspector of the Integrity Commission (ACT)

15-25 minutes

A short factsheet on the Inspector of the ACT Integrity Commission: the 'watch the watcher' role that oversees the Commission itself, and the unusual fact that the ACT Ombudsman currently performs it.

Learning level: Orientation
Jurisdictions: act
Subjects: administrative-law
Topics: statutory-bodies-and-regulators, integrity-and-misconduct-oversight

Learning outcomes

State the Inspector's establishing provisions and its function overseeing the ACT Integrity Commission's own compliance and conduct.
Identify who currently performs the Inspector role, and why.
Explain why the Inspector cannot itself impose discipline or prosecute the Commission or its staff.

Act: Integrity Commission Act 2018 (ACT), Part 5.1.¹

Established: created by the same 2018 Act that established the ACT Integrity Commission itself, as the Commission's own oversight mechanism.

Purpose: the Inspector assesses and reports on the Commission's compliance with the Act (including an annual operational review), and receives, investigates and assesses complaints about the Commission and its staff. This is the same "watch the watcher" design NSW uses for its Law Enforcement Conduct Commission and WA uses for its CCC — an integrity body overseeing corrupt conduct elsewhere in government still needs its own, separate check.

The genuinely unusual part: who currently holds the role

Section 229 of the Act provides that the ombudsman is the inspector of the commission until a different appointment is made under s 230.¹ Because the ACT Ombudsman is itself, under a separate Commonwealth arrangement, the same person who holds office as the Commonwealth Ombudsman, the practical effect at the time of drafting is that one office-holder wears three hats: Commonwealth Ombudsman, ACT Ombudsman, and Inspector of the ACT Integrity Commission. A student should not assume this is a permanent structural feature — the Act contemplates the Speaker appointing a separate, independent Inspector under s 230 — but it is the current arrangement, and it is a genuinely distinctive feature of how the ACT's integrity architecture fits together.

Powers conferred under the Act

The Inspector may recommend disciplinary action or criminal prosecution against the commissioner or the Commission's staff, and may refer matters to another public sector entity or official for consideration or action.¹ These are recommendation and referral powers, not powers to impose discipline or prosecute directly.

Is it a prosecuting authority?

No. The Inspector can only recommend that disciplinary action or criminal prosecution be pursued by someone else; it has no power to prosecute itself.

No specific leading case on the Inspector's role is cited here.

Self-check

Have I correctly stated that the Inspector oversees the Integrity Commission itself, not the wider ACT public sector?
Have I identified that the ACT Ombudsman currently performs this role, and why, rather than assuming a separately-appointed Inspector is always in place?
Have I kept the Inspector's recommend-and-refer powers separate from an actual power to discipline or prosecute?