‘Absolutely shocked’: Top level NACC recruitment process shrouded in secrecy

Despite Attorney-General Michelle Rowland’s promises of greater transparency around the hiring of a new NACC commissioner and deputy, nothing has changed

Michelle Fahy and Elizabeth Minter, Undue Influence, 30 August 26

We undertook this investigation in collaboration with Jommy Tee. It was first published by The Australia Institute’s The Point on 26 August 2026.

A third top level recruitment process is under way for the National Anti-Corruption Commission – to appoint a new commissioner and deputy commissioner following the resignations in May of Paul Brereton and Nicole Rose, both two years short of their five-year terms.

The first two processes – in 2022 and 2023 – were characterised by secrecy. Even members of parliament’s NACC oversight committee, the PJC-NACC, were given little information on how the recruitment was conducted. The jobs were publicly advertised but then the shutters came down.

In acknowledgement of the profound public disappointment in the NACC’s performance to date, following Brereton’s resignation Attorney-General Michelle Rowland promised a more transparent recruitment process and a “reset” of the beleaguered organisation:

I’m engaging across the parliament to look at ensuring … that there is transparency of the merit-based process … [and] also realising there is an opportunity here to reset the Commission and to ensure there is public confidence in this very important institution. (Bold added.)

This investigation, based on documents released under Freedom of Information, shows that nothing of substance has changed. The secrecy that characterised the two earlier recruitment processes looks set to be repeated. The government appears just as intent on evading scrutiny and oversight of this crucial third recruitment process.

Despite having been repeatedly advised by integrity experts to establish a recruitment process at arms-length from government for the top NACC roles, the Albanese government has chosen to stick with the ‘merit and transparency’ guidelines that have been in place since 2008. These guidelines were strongly criticised by Lynelle Briggs in her 2023 ‘Jobs for Mates’ report.

Smoke and mirrors

The current attorney-general, Michelle Rowland, appears to have led members of the NACC oversight committee and respected integrity advocates to believe that the latest recruitment process is a marked improvement – because there will be an “eminent” independent person included on the government-controlled selection panel.

Yet we can reveal that the first recruitment process also featured an eminent independent member on the selection panel.

Not only was this information kept from the public, it was also withheld from the PJC-NACC.

“It’s extraordinary as a member of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the NACC to be finding this out three years after the event and only through an FOI,” Greens Senator David Shoebridge told us.

Despite Rowland’s promises of increased transparency, the government has refused to disclose – even to members of the PJC-NACC, which is bound by confidentiality – the names of the people it has appointed to the selection panel.

Integrity expert, and former counsel assisting the NSW ICAC, Geoffrey Watson SC, told the committee he was “absolutely shocked” when advised the government would not be telling the committee who’s sitting on the selection panel……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Revealed: the selection panels and conflicts of interest

We obtained via FOI the names of the seven people who sat on the two selection panels. Aside from the sole external person, all panellists were senior government officials.

A separate set of documents, also obtained via FOI, revealed that four of those seven people – including the eminent independent person – declared actual or perceived conflicts of interest………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

NACC secrecy a deliberate choice of Albanese government

The secrecy around NACC recruitment is a deliberate choice of the government, according to integrity organisation the Accountability Round Table (ART).

The ART, which works to strengthen government accountability and democratic practices, is a non-partisan organisation with a board that includes senior legal practitioners, former judges, former parliamentarians and others with substantial experience of Commonwealth integrity arrangements………………………………………..

The ART said that immediate reform is urgently required to restore public trust. It is a statement for which this investigation provides strong evidence.

We put a number of detailed questions to Attorney-General Michelle Rowland and her department for this article. Neither responded.

We put detailed questions to former attorney-general Mark Dreyfus. He did not respond to the questions and directed us to contact the attorney-general’s department.https://undueinfluence.substack.com/p/absolutely-shocked-top-level-nacc?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=297295&post_id=213255175&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=1ise1&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email