The Coalition has grilled Labor over reports it tried to appoint a judge with party ties to its national anti-corruption body, in a tense Senate estimates hearing that saw Senator Michaelia Cash call on the Attorney-General to admit wrongdoing.
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Nine newspapers revealed on Monday that Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus had proposed NSW Supreme Court Justice Stephen Rothman for deputy commissioner of the National Anti-Corruption Commission, despite the fact Mr Rothman ran for Labor in the seat of Wentworth in 1984 and contested Labor preselection for the seat of Dobell in 2003.
Senator Cash spent Tuesday morning questioning the Attorney-General's Department over Justice Rothman's selection process, accusing Mr Dreyfus of trying to "be too smart by half".
"Poor Mr Rothman has had to have his name splashed all over newspapers, has had to have it raised in Senate Estimates today because the Attorney-General tried to be too smart by half and appoint someone who has previously run for Labor party preselection, wanted to be a Labor member of parliament, to the one body in Australia that is meant to oversee corruption," Senator Cash said.
"I would have thought it would just be easier to say 'I made a mistake and in the interest of transparency I admit to it'."
But Senator Anthony Chisholm - representing the Attorney-General in estimates - stood by his Labor colleague, telling Senator Cash "... I am happy to stack Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus's record of integrity on appointments up against yours any day of the week".
Representatives of the Attorney-General's Department fielded questions around the deputy commissioner appointment process, which they said began when the position was advertised in national print and digital media from July 10, 2023 until applications closed at the end of that month.
From there, candidates were shortlisted and interviewed by a committee that consisted of the department's acting secretary at the time, Sarah Chidgey, NACC commissioner Paul Brereton, and Public Service Commissioner Gordon de Brouwer.
Department deputy secretary Simon Newnham said candidates were not only required to provide private interest declarations prior to interviews, but were also screened for political affiliations and media mentions, before they were recommended to the Attorney-General for consideration.
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But Mr Newnham said he understood the media scans only went back five or 10 years, a fact Greens senator David Shoebridge said constituted a "major fail" under the circumstances.
"Th NACC is too important to have this kind of concern and commentary. It needs to be above politics, it needs to be above reproach. And I don't think the department ... has done them any favours. And I hope those lessons have been learned," Senator Shoebridge told officials.
While departmental officials were reluctant to name Justice Rothman as one of the final candidates due to privacy concerns, Mr Newnham said the selection committee prepared a report with three "highly suitable" candidates for the Attorney-General to consider.
Mr Dreyfus' pick was put to a parliamentary joint committee overseeing the anti-corruption body for review in mid-November.
But last month, the parliamentary committee published a report saying that it hadn't been satisfied with the information provided by the Attorney-General's department to support the chosen candidate, and cited key "omissions".
"The information provided by the department did no adequately address critical issues that were essential for the committee to undertake its statutory functions," Labor senator Linda White, who chairs the committee, wrote.
"The committee was not fully confident that all desirable information was gathered by the department in undertaking its assessment."
Public servants told estimates that the parliamentary committee held a private briefing with Mr Dreyfus' department on November 24, before writing to the department with questions a few days later.
But Mr Dreyfus' candidate withdrew from the application process on December 7. Within a week, the Attorney-General referred Kylie Kilgour to the committee, which ultimately approved her appointment to the role in late January.