Labor has seized on the censure of the former Liberal minister Bruce Billson to put pressure on the Turnbull government to join a bipartisan effort to establish a national integrity commission. Porter told Guardian Australia the Coalition was considering “detailed models” for the reform, including possibly strengthening and combining some existing bodies. He warned Labor against proceeding by “announcement first and detail second”, saying the Coalition would continue consulting before engaging in public debate. He said it was “almost impossible” to combine existing bodies which had different functions and instead recommended an anti-corruption body cooperate with existing agencies. Porter questioned whether an anti-corruption body would have jurisdiction to consider the case of Sam Dastyari, who resigned after revelations of his links to Chinese donor Huang Xiangmo.

Source: The Guardian March 28, 2018 22:30 UTC