State introduces bill to reappoint McKechnie

The state government has announced it will introduce legislation to reappoint John McKechnie as head of the corruption watchdog, more than a year after his appointment was blocked by a member of its standing committee.

During a press conference this afternoon, Attorney General John Quigley announced that the state government would introduce the Corruption, Crime and Misconduct Bill 2021 this week to address what he described as deficiencies in the current act, making good on its election commitment to ensure Mr McKechnie's return.

The Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC) has been without a commissioner since April last year after Mr McKechnie’s reappointment was blocked by a Liberal member of the committee during the last term of parliament. 

The commission’s standing committee has still been unable to provide majority and bipartisan support for Mr McKechnie’s reappointment, despite twice being identified as the ‘outstanding nominee’ and having the support of Police Commissioner Chris Dawson.

Prior to that, the former Supreme Court judge had led a number of investigations during his five-year tenure, including the misuse of allowances by former parliamentarians.

Mr Quigley said the introduction of the bill would ensure Mr McKechnie could resume his role as the Department of Justice continued its review of the Corruption, Crime and Misconduct Act.

He said those in opposition had the choice of following the recommendation of the standing committee or “protecting their mates”.

Premier Mark McGowan said the blocking of Mr McKechnie’s reappointment at a time when the CCC was investigating opposition MPs for misusing entitlements was unacceptable.

The bill is one of two the state government intends to introduce this week, the second of which is legislation to protect information obtained for COVID-19 contact tracing.