“Any commission of inquiry that has taken more than five years to be completed needs to be investigated… It should consider adequate funding, attempts of political interference and whether a shake up is needed,” writes political columnist MICHAEL MOORE.

The light is finally at the end of a long tunnel. The ACT Integrity Commission has identified that the last legal hurdle preventing the publication of the Kingfisher investigation has finally dissipated. Well, almost the last legal hurdle!

The breakthrough came with David Ferguson dropping his lawsuit to prevent the examination of 1.4 million documents that had been downloaded from his mobile phone. Ferguson was working for Deputy Chief Minister Yvette Berry at the time, which is the focus of the investigation.

The Integrity Commission announced that the impact of this action has allowed the release of the report. Don’t hold your breath! It will not yet be released to the public. The law requires that the report first be released to “affected parties”.

According to the Commission’s website: “As part of the procedural fairness process, the Integrity Commission Act requires that a minimum of six weeks is given to the affected parties to respond to the proposed report.

“The Commission must then consider any comments received, including any requests from relevant parties seeking additional time to respond”.

Those who have received a copy are bound under the law to non-disclosure until the Operation Kingfisher is tabled in the ACT Legislative Assembly.

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”.

Lendlease won the contract (which has since been completed) despite the tender evaluation teams recommending, on two occasions, that the rival firm Manteena had a superior and cheaper bid.

When Minister Berry, as education minister, was called to appear before the Integrity Commission in September 2023, she denied telling her staff to ensure the bid was to go to Lendlease. She was the first ACT minister to appear before the Integrity Commission.

The investigation is also considering the influence of the CFMEU as to whether this union exerted influence that undermined public servants and was not in the best interest of taxpayers.

The announcement of the release of the reports by the Integrity Commission was followed rapidly with debate in the Assembly.

A motion put forward by the Liberal Party in the Assembly called for an investigation into the Integrity Commission to determine what were the delays and what ought to be done to avoid similar delays in the future.

“This is not about pre-empting the outcome of the Campbell Primary School investigation,” said Opposition Leader Mark Parton.

“It’s not about political point scoring, it’s about ensuring that the ACT’s integrity framework is functioning as the public expects and deserves.”

The Liberals are not the only ones buying in on Operation Kingfisher. The Greens recently criticised Chief Minister Andrew Barr for allowing Ms Berry to remain in cabinet for two years despite having appeared before the Integrity Commission.

When asked in question time if any member of his government had “engaged in conduct that may result in an adverse finding by the ACT Integrity Commissioner or the ACT Auditor-General”, Mr Barr’s response was “ministers operate under the ministerial code of conduct”.

Additionally, the chief minister pointed out that his government has, “always given serious consideration to budget funding requests particularly for particular projects or the base workload of the commission”.

Any commission of inquiry that has taken more than five years to be completed does need to be investigated. There is a parliamentary committee that is charged with the oversight of the commission and must now follow through to ensure there are no blocks in the way of the Integrity Commission carrying out its work.

Examination of the conduct of Operation Kingfisher should consider adequate public funding, attempts of political interference, do the administrative or investigative arms of the Integrity Commission need a shake-up.

Additionally, was litigation deliberately designed to slow the inquiry to ensure the report was not submitted before an election.

It is time to consider if changes to legislation are needed to facilitate a more effective investigative organisation.

Operation Kingfisher has yet to report. The light at the end of the tunnel still requires patience. The hope is that the final report will be to the Assembly speaker before the end of the financial year.

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.