Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says a federal anti-corruption commission established by his government would be given "the scope to look at what they see fit" to investigate.
Mr Albanese pledged during the election campaign to legislate a national integrity body "with teeth" by the end of the year if Labor won government.
Asked by ABC Radio Perth’s Nadia Mitsopoulos on Friday if the commission being retrospective meant it could look at events such as the car park or sports rorts affairs, Mr Albanese said: "What it means is that we want an independent national anti-corruption commission that won’t be told by the executive what it can look at, so they will have the scope to look at what they see fit".
Last year, a report by the auditor-general found that the Morrison government's handling of a .
In 2020, the auditor-general found a , noting the use of colour-coded spreadsheets and a memo which spoke of federal election target seats.
"Part of the flaw in the [former] government's quite frankly pathetic model was that ministers would have to agree on whether there could be an investigation into anything that they were engaged with," he said.
"My government won't have that right of veto, and nor will any processes or any issues that the anti-corruption commission sees fit to have a look at."
Former prime minister Scott Morrison had promised at the 2019 election to establish a national integrity commission in the successive parliamentary term but failed to do so.
He argued in April that the Liberals' model did not have enough support to pass parliament, adding that that he said is established in New South Wales on a state level.
"At the last election, we said we would seek to put one in place. We developed a policy, developed detailed legislation, the Labor Party didn’t agree with it," Mr Morrison said at the time.
The term "kangaroo court" is often used to describe an ad hoc court that has limited power and does not follow normal legal procedures.
NSW ICAC commissioner Stephen Rushton labelled following Mr Morrison's comments.
'Disinformation' spread about legality of pork barrelling, outgoing NSW ICAC chief commissioner says
Disinformation has been spread about the legality of 'pork barrelling' by senior politicians who appear not to grasp the law, the chief commissioner of the NSW corruption watchdog says.
Outgoing Chief Commissioner of the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption Peter Hall said recent comments by former prime minister Scott Morrison suggesting pork barrelling was not illegal lacked legal understanding.
Mr Hall made the comments during a forum convened by the ICAC on Friday to examine the legality and ethics of pork barrelling.
Pork barrelling is the practice of spending taxpayer funds to shore up political support, or in the context of an election, win votes.
ICAC Chief Commissioner Peter Hall says attacks against the anti-corruption watchdog from the prime minister are 'misguided and unfounded'. Source: AAP / JOEL CARRETT/AAPIMAGE
"During the last federal election, the former prime minister in reference to the practice of pork barrelling raised the question, as reported in the Sydney Morning Herald, quote, 'No one is suggesting anyone has broken any laws are they?'.
"Some ministerial comments to similar effects have been made at the state level, suggesting that pork barrelling is normal and legal."
The comments were concerning and appeared to show elected officials in the highest levels of government had an apparent lack of knowledge of the law, he said.
Four components of the law could be applied to pork barrelling, Mr Hall said, including public trust principles, the common law offence of misconduct in public office, the NSW Ministerial Code, and the jurisdiction and statutory functions of the ICAC.
Former NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian previously defended pork barrelling as "not illegal" after it was revealed 95 per cent of the $252 million Stronger Communities Fund grants program had been 95 per cent allocated to Coalition-held seats.
She conceded the grants may have helped her government win the 2019 election.
"All governments and all oppositions make commitments to the community in order to curry favour," she said in November 2020.
"It's not an illegal practice, unfortunately, it does happen from time to time by every government," she said.
"The term pork barrelling is common parlance ... it's not something that I know that the community is comfortable with and if that is the accusation made on this occasion ... well then I'm happy to accept that commentary."
In the lead up to the 2019 election, then leader of the NSW Nationals John Barilaro told AAP he aspired to be the state's treasurer, and wanted the nickname "Pork Barrel-aro".
"People already call me Pork Barrel-aro ... I'd probably take it to another level," he said.
Director of the Constitutional Reform Unit Anne Twomey told the forum many MPs and ministers were insufficiently guided after being elected.
"Members of parliament and ministers don't get educated in any formal way in relation to their roles, they get educated by an apprenticeship basis," Prof Twomey said.
"And in that apprenticeship basis, that's where they learn about pork barrelling and all those sorts of things, and it becomes totally normalised.
"If you speak to members of parliament about this sort of thing, they think that people like me are completely crazy and unrealistic.
"Because this is just the way it is. This is normal. This is how it operates.
The NSW Opposition's Treasury spokesperson Daniel Mookhey said any new ideas on tackling pork barrelling would be welcomed by Labor.
"The very fact that the ICAC thinks it has to take the almost unprecedented step of convening a forum to look into these questions raises serious doubts about this government's integrity."
Additional reporting by Amy Hall
