National Anti-Corruption Commission Commences Operations

In Short

The Situation: While Australia has had anticorruption bodies with broad-ranging powers at the state and territory level for some years, until recently, there was no equivalent body at the federal level. This has changed with the establishment of Australia's first National Anti-Corruption Commission ("NACC"), which commenced operations on 1 July 2023.

The Result: The NACC has wide-ranging powers to investigate the broadly defined concept of "corrupt conduct" involving public officials (which includes, among others, contracted service providers to federal government agencies), and may refer any evidence of corrupt conduct for criminal prosecution by federal or state-based prosecutors.