Janine Kitson, Independent candidate for Bradfield, promised support for the Accountability Round Table's (ART) 'The Rule of Law, Accountability and Public Trust, Unpacked and Applied' recommendations on integrity reform, if elected at the next federal election. Professor Charles Sampford, a long standing ART Board Member shared ART’s integrity reform agenda at a recent 'Bradfield can do Better' webinar on 4 November, 2021. Ms Janine Kitson, a former independent local government councillor, said: “I will work with all political parties to implement ART’s 21 recommendations that aim to restore the rule of law, public trust, accountability and integrity back into Australia’s Parliament.”
Professor Sampford, Director of the Institute for Ethics, Governance and Law at Griffith University, Queensland, said: “We are facing a national integrity crisis in which the routine abuse of power and undermining of long standing integrity agencies is commonplace. Integrity reform is absolutely necessary. But it is entirely possible. It can and will happen if voters are so sick of rorts and porkies that they demand ‘Integrity Now’ and political success is dependent on effective integrity reforms. Australia has a proud history of integrity reforms from the secret ballot and universal suffrage to the comprehensive post-Fitzgerald reforms in Queensland. The Accountability Round Table is a non-partisan group of governance experts with judicial, parliamentary, civil service and academia who focus on recommending changes that will increase government accountability, public trust and the rule of law. We have proposed 21 such reforms. These include a strong and independent Commonwealth Integrity Commission (CIC) that has the independence, the powers and the resources to combat corruption. However a CIC must be accompanied by other well-funded independent integrity agencies and anti-corruption measures that create an ‘integrity system’.” The 21 recommendations will be formally launched on 8 December." Ms Janine Kitson, concluded: “Independents are already making a difference. With a few more independents elected we can get these integrity reforms across the line”.
Contacts: Janine Kitson - 0428 860 623
Professor Charles Sampford - 0408 983 824 |
