The  National Anti-Corruption Commission opened its doors two years ago this week amid much fanfare and high expectations.

Since then the body has attracted considerable criticism, overshadowing a solid, if slow, start to a whole new anti-corruption system across federal government.

Established with strong powers after a history of  much weaker proposals, what has it achieved in its first two years?

Early hurdles

On its first day, the decision to livestream the opening ceremony showed the Commission was alive to public expectations.

However, the Commission’s reputation faced major early challenges: fears its transparency had been “nobbled”, and its damaging initial decision  not to investigate officials referred by the Robodebt Royal Commission.

The first challenge flowed from the politics that birthed the Commission.

In 2022, despite otherwise state-of-the-art powers, the Albanese Government made a late decision to insert an “ exceptional circumstances” test to its ability to hold public hearings in corruption investigations.

The shift created a bad impression. Many voices, including cross-bench parliamentarians, were left with good reason to question the very institution they helped create.

The problem will haunt the NACC until the unnecessary threshold is removed.

Public recognition

In reality, the NACC still has hefty public hearing powers, but they are yet to be used.

When the need arises for royal commission-scale transparency, it will deliver an important side benefit the NACC still badly needs: public visibility.

The challenge is confirmed by research on public trust, yet to be published, by Griffith University. Surveyed in March this year, only 12% of respondents said they knew at least a fair amount about the NACC, while a third had never heard of it at all, or didn’t know.

This contrasts with the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption, now 37 years old and the country’s heaviest user of public hearings. More than a quarter (26%) of NSW respondents said they knew at least a fair amount about the ICAC.

Building visibility is a slow road, and does not mean the NACC is........

© Pearls and Irritations