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Read The Centre for Public Integrity‘s E-News: Rushed laws. Fewer checks. Weakening watchdogs.
Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2025
| Integrity Watch Weak Process, Strong Powers: a Troubling Legislative Trend We are writing to you during the final sitting week of the federal Parliament for 2025—one in which the Government appears determined to rush through major reforms that themselves raise significant integrity issues, with apparently no regard for proper legislative process. We are deeply concerned by the Government’s push to progress the EPBC Act reforms before the Senate Committee has even finished receiving public submissions, and by its earlier rush to pass the FOI Amendment Bill in the House – again, before the relevant Committee has reported. We wish we could say these concerns are new in this space, but they are not. Last parliamentary term, we saw this Government push through major reforms to the Commonwealth electoral finance laws with similar flouting of good legislative process. These moves reflect a troubling disregard for transparent, participatory law-making. They come at a cost: in terms of good policy, legitimate government, and public trust. Our integrity advocacy over the past fortnight has also taken us across the country. In Western Australia, we highlighted serious accountability concerns in the State Development Bill, which would fast-track development approvals while eroding established safeguards. In the Northern Territory, our Stephen Charles Fellow, Associate Professor Will Partlett, made a submission to the Community Scrutiny Forum on the sweeping changes proposed to the Territory’s integrity framework through the Integrity and Ethics Commissioner Bill 2025. As the year closes—and with a full reflection from us on the year that was still to come—we are excited to be turning our attention to 2026, and the ongoing work of integrity and accountability. Dr Catherine Williams Executive Director, Centre for Public Integrity Professor Gabrielle Appleby Research Director, Centre for Public Integrity Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Reform Bills A Fast-Tracked Reform Process That Sidelines Scrutiny and Risks Integrity Failures Over recent weeks, the Centre for Public Integrity has been closely monitoring the Government’s attempt to push through its package of Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) reform Bills. These are Bills that the Centre has expressed significant concerns in relation to integrity, including in our initial integrity assessment, and subsequent detailed submission to the Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee. Our integrity analysis has continued to receive media attention, including this week in The Canberra Times. This week we issued a new briefing, Government’s Rush to Pass EPBC Reforms Undermines Trust, warning that the Government’s intention to strike a deal before public submissions to the Senate Committee close, and months before the Committee is due to report, represents a serious breach of trust and a failure of transparent, accountable law-making. Alongside this process-focused work, the Centre has also analysed the substance of existing public submissions to the Senate inquiry, so that there is greater transparency as to the extent of support for the Bill. Our report, Analysis of Extent of Support for Environment Protection Reform Bills 2025, shows that of the 76 submissions published as at 23 November 2025, only one (from the Department itself) supports the Bills in their current form, 12 offer qualified support with recommended changes, and 63 submissions – around 83 per cent – either oppose the package outright or seek such significant amendment that they are best characterised as opposing the Bills as presented. These concerns about rushing the process, sidelining public input and ignoring the weight of expert evidence have been picked up in national media commentary. On ABC’s Afternoon Briefing, host Patricia Karvelas put the Centre’s analysis directly to Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury Dr Andrew Leigh, and Professor Gabrielle Appleby appeared on the program to outline why trying to short-circuit proper consultation and parliamentary scrutiny on reforms of this magnitude undermines trust in our democratic institutions.Make a tax-deductible donationWestern Australia’s State Development Bill Fast-Tracking Power, Slowing AccountabilityThe Centre for Public Integrity was also watching the Parliament in Western Australia, with the Government introducing the State Development Bill. This Bill creates a framework for designating “state-significant development” projects and grants the Minister for State Development sweeping new powers. Our report, Western Australia’s State Development Bill: Fast‑Tracking Power, Slowing Accountability, which led the daily coverage in WA Today, noted the similarities between this development and moves globally to push through ‘fast-tracked’ processes for ‘priority projects’ at the expense of environmental and cultural protection. We warned that in the rush to “get things done”, Western Australia risked trading away democratic legitimacy, transparency and accountability. As a matter of process, we were again concerned that the Bill was introduced without clear evidence of broad-based consultation or stakeholder engagement, with no transparency about who was consulted. Substantively, we raised a number of concerns about the consolidation of Ministerial power in the Bill, including to override existing legislation, and the insufficient accountability mechanisms in place. We were particularly critical of the design of the ‘Coordinator-General’ role, which lacked adequate safeguards or defined accountability responsibilities. Our recommendation was that the Government should withdraw the Bill and begin again, engaging in open, broad-based consultation and building a proper legislative framework. |
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26 November 2025