An important aspect of good government is ensuring the integrity of public administration. This means ensuring that public administration is conducted robustly, honestly, fairly, transparently and in the public interest. One way to achieve this is through integrity agencies – bodies dedicated to examining and evaluating the workings of public administration agencies and receiving and investigating complaints about those agencies.
The integrity framework in South Australia is made up of various integrity agencies, all of which are interconnected, but each with distinct functions. It is important that South Australians – particularly public officers – understand how these agencies fit together and the specific roles they play in ensuring integrity in public administration.
Sitting at the centre of this framework is the Office for Public Integrity (‘OPI’). OPI does not have investigative functions; rather, it acts as the ‘clearing house’ or ‘gateway’ for complaints by members of the public and reports from public officers about corruption, misconduct or maladministration in public administration. Any integrity issue involving a public officer or public authority can be reported to OPI.
OPI receives complaints and reports, assesses them, and determines whether – and to whom – they should be referred. If OPI assesses a complaint or report as involving a potential issue of corruption in public administration, it can refer the matter to the Independent Commission Against Corruption for possible investigation.
The Commission has primary responsibility for dealing with corruption in public administration. It is tasked with identifying, preventing, and minimizing corruption in public administration and does this by:
- conducting investigations into potential corruption in public administration;
- undertaking evaluations of the practices, policies, and procedures of government agencies;
- conducting and facilitating education programs; and
- referring matters involving corruption, maladministration or misconduct to other agencies for investigation and, where appropriate, prosecution.
The Commission can only investigate matters that are referred to it by the OPI. It cannot commence its own investigations and cannot receive referrals from any other agencies.
The Commission can investigate matters referred by OPI under the Police Complaints and Discipline Act 2016 (‘the Police Complaints Act’) relating to the conduct of police officers. Generally, complaints about police conduct are received by SA Police and investigated by its Internal Investigations Section. However, the OPI has responsibility for overseeing the scheme created by the Police Complaints Act and has power to direct investigations and refer matters to the Commission where appropriate.
Apart from matters arising from complaints under the Police Complaints Act, power to investigate is limited to corruption in public administration. If OPI assess a complaint or report as raising some other issue, it may refer it to another inquiry agency.
One of these agencies is the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman has a broad jurisdiction, and is responsible for investigating misconduct and maladministration in public administration, complaints about local government, and administrative decision-making by government bodies. The Ombudsman can receive referrals from OPI, but also receives complaints directly from members of the public or reports from public officers. The Ombudsman can publish reports and make recommendations following investigations.
Sitting alongside these agencies is the Auditor-General, with responsibility for conducting audits of state government agencies and local councils, to ensure efficiency and proper accounting of public money. The Auditor-General does not receive complaints directly from the public.
