“By dragging on for so long Operation Kingfisher is now a disgrace that discredits the ACT Labor government and investigations by the ACT Integrity Commission,” writes political columnist MICHAEL MOORE.

Following last week’s column, I have been approached by several people asking the question: what is Operation Kingfisher?

By dragging on for so long it is now a disgrace that discredits the ACT Labor government and investigations by the ACT Integrity Commission.

According to the Commission’s website: “Operation Kingfisher is an investigation into whether public officials within the ACT Education Directorate failed to exercise their official functions honestly and/or impartially when making recommendations and decisions regarding the Campbell Primary School Modernisation Project between 2019 and 2020”.

The Integrity Commissioner, Michael Adams KC, provided an important insight into Operation Kingfisher in late August. He told an ACT Legislative Assembly Estimates Committee: “One of the real problems here… is where you have the relationship between union officials and ministerial staff. Well, of course you do. 

“The Labor Party, of course, has union representatives and membership. That is exactly what you would expect. But how do you manage it? How do you manage it in a sensible way?”

Operation Kingfisher includes examining the actions of the office of Yvette Berry, the Minister for Education and Deputy Chief Minister. The investigation that has included cross-examination of Ms Berry has extended across two elections in 2020 and 2024. 

In both of those elections it would have been sensible for voters of the ACT to have been able to understand the role played by the minister when they were casting their vote.

The Commissioner added: “Of course, it is not only unions; there are a whole lot of people with lobbying interests and a whole lot of financial donations made from a lot of different sources. Donations are the lifeblood of political parties for elections.”

A challenge in the Supreme Court by former Education Directorate boss Katy Haire and another by a long-term political staffer, who is now chief of staff to Treasurer Chris Steel, appeared to have caused extensive delays.

But I can advise that the Kingfisher investigation has never been paused, even whilst the litigation was underway as no order of the court was imposed on the Commissioner that required him to cease investigative activity.

Ms Haire launched her challenge in 2023 and then was able to delay the proceedings until after the October 2024 elections. This legal action was a factor in blocking a report on Operation Kingfisher being available before the election. Ms Haire’s initial costs were covered by the ACT government. Well after the election, in May 2025, the court case was withdrawn by Ms Haire.

Another delay through the court system resulted through action by a Labor political staffer. On August 26 Justice David Mossop provided a legal win for the Integrity Commission allowing it to examine the contents of David Ferguson, a Labor adviser to the Chief Minister, the Attorney-General as well as the Minister for Planning and the Minister for City Services and Transport.

This court decision allowed more than a million documents to be considered. It is likely that the Commission was seeking evidence of discussions between a range of staffers involved in the matter at hand. However, the impact of legal action taken by the Labor staffer, like that of the head of the Education Directorate, was to add to delays on the report being published.

Commissioner Adams said the Labor staffer “has placed an obstacle in the road. It is the nature of the beast, I am afraid”.

However, it is not just actions by government members that delay reports. Appropriate funding also plays a key role. Responding to questions from the Greens Andrew Braddock, the Commissioner explained: “The problem here, we know, in Canberra is we have limited resources for massive tasks”, and later: “Even in my small agency, we try to deliver a big kick but, frankly, the leg is not all that long”.

An indication of why the report is so important was explained by John Strong in The Mandarin in October 2023: “The revelations emerging from Operation Kingfisher have shown the ACT exactly how much of their taxes, in the form of infrastructure spending, goes to businesses who kowtow to the CFMEU – it’s around 8.5 per cent above what’s considered a reasonable tender bid”.

Later Strong wrote: “The other cost is to the public servants who are often the innocent victims of bad politicians”. The extent of this insight remains to be seen. 

Describing the delay to publish the report as a disgrace is pretty strong. However, the perception of huge delays in Operation Kingfisher undermines the credibility of the ACT government and the Commission.

There is light at the end of the tunnel. The Integrity Commissioner told the ACT Estimates Committee in late August: “I am concentrating my efforts on Kingfisher, because that is the most urgent matter”.

Michael Moore is a former member of the ACT Legislative Assembly and an independent minister for health. He has been a political columnist with “CityNews” since 2006.