{"id":920206,"date":"2026-07-08T05:43:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T05:43:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/920206\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T05:43:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T05:43:22","slug":"investigation-into-former-nacc-commissioner-paul-brereton-discontinued-over-cost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/920206\/","title":{"rendered":"Investigation into former NACC commissioner Paul Brereton discontinued over cost"},"content":{"rendered":"

The national anti-corruption watchdog has decided it cannot “justify” the cost of proceeding with two complaint investigations into former commissioner Paul Brereton, given he no longer holds the position.<\/p>\n

Mr Brereton resigned from the inaugural role as National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) commissioner in May after ongoing scrutiny over his defence links and handling of conflicts of interests.<\/p>\n

It came after he said it had drawn “attention away” from the agency’s work.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday morning, NACC Inspector Gail Furness said she would discontinue the investigations, which had already cost significant public money, due to her belief that the systemic issues had been resolved.<\/p>\n

NACC boss Paul Brereton resigns amid pressure over misconduct, defence ties<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr Brereton was found in 2024 to have engaged in officer misconduct in his role as head of the NACC and has since faced pressure over his defence connections.<\/p>\n

She noted that “no NACC corruption issue was involved” and both cases were pertaining solely to Mr Brereton’s conduct.<\/p>\n

“In order for the draft reports, which are in part contested, to be completed, further considerable public funds would need to be spent,” she said in a statement.<\/p>\n

“I cannot justify such expenditure in circumstances where Commissioner Brereton has resigned and, in my opinion, the systemic issues which had been identified have been satisfactorily addressed.”<\/p>\n

Inspector Furness also said the ongoing scrutiny around Mr Brereton’s conduct detracted from the agency’s focus.<\/p>\n

“The NACC needs to focus on detecting, investigating, and deterring corruption,” the statement read.<\/p>\n

Acting Commissioner Kylie Kilgour welcomed the inspector’s decision, highlighting the lack of systemic issues to address.<\/p>\n

“I am committed to maintaining an open and constructive relationship with the Inspector,” she said in a statement.<\/p>\n

“We have a range of prevention and education activities underway, as well as a number of important investigations. There’s lots of work to get on with.”<\/p>\n

NACC institutes change after investigations<\/p>\n

In February, Ms Furness launched an investigation into complaints over Mr Brereton’s ongoing ties to the defence force.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It followed an ABC report which revealed <\/strong>Mr Brereton had continued to provide advice to the inspector-general of the Australian Defence Force (IGADF) in relation to the Afghanistan war crimes inquiry during his time as NACC commissioner.<\/p>\n

During a grilling in Senate estimates in May, Mr Brereton said he had disclosed his ongoing affiliations with the IGADF, but did not see the need to disclose the “precise nature” of what he was doing.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Inspector Furness said the contested issue no longer needed to be resolved as Mr Brereton no longer held a position and her investigation did not highlight a systemic issue.<\/p>\n

National anti-corruption watchdog chief’s future in question after Robodebt decision<\/a><\/p>\n

The head of the anti-corruption watchdog is facing calls to step aside following a review into a decision to not investigate Robodebt referrals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, she noted that the NACC had instituted a change for future conflicts of interests to avoid “undue secrecy” and “enhance integrity” in the decision making process.<\/p>\n

Going forward, all NACC officers would need to disclose personal interests, providing details of the nature, extent and how it would relate to the commission.<\/p>\n

“I am satisfied that this change will result in more scrutiny, transparency and accountability in the Commission’s handling of conflict of interest matters,” the statement said.<\/p>\n

Inspector Furness said the second complaint, concerning allegations of Mr Brereton’s conduct during two NACC operations, also did not identify a systemic issue that required change.<\/p>\n

The former commissioner was also found to have engaged in “officer misconduct” in 2024 as a result of the commissioner’s failure to adequately manage a declared conflict of interest issue linked to a Robodebt referral.<\/p>\n

Criticism over axing investigations<\/p>\n

Greens senator David Shoebridge respectfully disagreed with the NACC inspector’s decision, saying accountability at such a senior level was vital, even if Mr Brereton had resigned.<\/p>\n

“I am disappointed in that the complaints were not completed,” he told ABC.<\/p>\n

“People in these most senior roles must be seen to be accountable by the public, and avoiding the consequences of your actions by resigning before the judgement is delivered undermines accountability.”<\/p>\n

\"David<\/p>\n

David Shoebridge had pushed for Mr Brereton to step down.\u00a0 (ABC News: Matt Roberts)<\/p>\n

Mr Shoebridge thanked the NACC inspector for her diligence and independence, but said his team would continue to press for changes needed at the NACC.<\/p>\n

“Commissioner Brereton’s conduct was defended by the NACC, including by the CEO and at quite significant public expense,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The NACC needs fundamental changes to restore confidence and that will require more than just a change of commissioner.”<\/p>\n

Mr Brereton’s final day was July 6, two years before his term was set to finish.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The national anti-corruption watchdog has decided it cannot “justify” the cost of proceeding with two complaint investigations into…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":823874,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[4740,136729,5022,137077,174790,50,174791,10862],"class_list":["post-920206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-australia","tag-conflict-of-interest","tag-investigation","tag-nacc","tag-national-anti-corruption-commission","tag-news","tag-paul-brereton","tag-resignation"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116882768816172903","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/920206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=920206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/920206\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/823874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=920206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=920206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=920206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}