On the eve of its second birthday, the National Anti-Corruption Commission was able to celebrate by announcing its first finding of misconduct against a public official.

IllustrationCredit: Simon Letch

But do not get excited – it is pretty low-level stuff: a senior public servant (their name has been concealed) inappropriately placed her sister’s fiance into a job. This is pretty ordinary work, and not an especially spectacular start for Australia’s premier anti-corruption body. It is the kind of matter commonly dealt with by the Australian Public Service Commission, not an anti-corruption body. It really looks well beneath the role of the NACC.

There is real work to be done, but the NACC is distracted by dealing with comparative trivialities.

The first two years of the NACC have been a real disappointment. There is negative feel to it, as though the commission’s leadership team is unwilling to flex its muscles. Even the decision to conceal the names of those involved in this incident is puzzling – they did wrong, so why not expose them? The NACC emphasised that it........

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