On 13 December 2018, the Australian Government announced that it will establish a Commonwealth Integrity Commission (CIC) to strengthen integrity arrangements across the federal public sector.

The CIC will be a centralised, specialist centre for the investigation of corruption in the public sector. It will also work with agencies to build resilience to corruption and bolster agency capability to detect, deter and investigate corrupt conduct.

The CIC will be established as an independent statutory agency, led by a commissioner and two deputy commissioners. The CIC will comprise:

• a law enforcement integrity division – this will have the same functions and powers as the current Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity, but with a broader jurisdiction
• a public sector integrity division – this will investigate alleged criminal corruption involving government departments and their staff, parliamentarians and their staff, the staff of federal judicial officers, and in appropriate circumstances, recipients of Commonwealth funds.

Further information on the proposed functions and structure of the CIC is outlined in this consultation paper.