Chris Bowen meets state and territory counterparts to discuss how to tackle crisis amid growing cost-of-living pressures. Follow all the day’s news
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Dreyfus says the commission’s hearings will “overwhelmingly” take place in private, however there will be circumstances in which public hearings will be useful.
There will be circumstances in which it is clearly in the public interest for a public hearing to take place. Almost all state and territory commissions have the power to hold sparing public hearings.
They can potentially be very useful … it’s a way of building confidence in the activities of the commission if people can see it in operation … it’s something that prompts others to come forward, it brings out evidence if people hear of the investigation
I’m not going to set limits on this commission. It’s independent … it’s not there to accept instructions from governments of the day.
I’ve been repeatedly asked about pork barrelling … and if such programs and this goes for any government program … falls within the commission’s view of serious and systemic corruption … the ambit of the commissions responsibilities … then that’s going to be a matter which the commission can determine it will look at.