South Australia’s corruption commissioner Ann Vanstone has handed in her resignation just over halfway through her seven year term, saying she’s run out of steam trying to fix a damaged system.

“My resignation is prompted by a number of factors, some personal, but most professional,” she said in a statement.

Her resignation is effective from September 6.

Amendments to the Independent Commission Against Corruption Act in 2021 had undermined the state’s anti-corruption regime and hamstrung the ICAC, Commissioner Vanstone said,

“The 2021 amendments to the legislation governing public integrity in South Australia damaged the scheme, under the guise of making it more effective and efficient,” she said.

Among her criticisms are that the ICAC investigators are banned from speaking to the prosecutor; that the commission can’t share information about integrity issues with the community, and that the public is required to pay the legal fees of people convicted of an offence if they have been investigated by the Commission.

The public interest is not served by narrowing the definition of corruption, or by isolating the Commission from the intelligence sources constituted by all complaints and reports, or by completely divorcing us from the prosecution process so that we are unable to assist a prosecution.

Ann Vanstone

“In essence, the public interest is not served by narrowing the definition of corruption, or by isolating the Commission from the intelligence sources constituted by all complaints and reports, or by completely divorcing us from the prosecution process so that we are unable to assist a prosecution.”

Commissioner Vanstone said she has repeatedly expressed her concerns and asked for an independent review of amendments, but “my words have fallen on deaf ears”.

She said she stayed in the role as long as she has in support of her staff and in the ‘naïve hope’ that the weaknesses would be addressed.

“That has not happened and I have no confidence that it would, even if I stayed until the end of my term,” she said.

“Most importantly, I have stayed for the staff, to help them retain faith that the work they do is important and valuable, notwithstanding the attacks on the Commission.

I have run out of steam. I hope the next Commissioner will succeed where I have failed.

Ann Vanstone

“I have run out of steam. I hope the next Commissioner will succeed where I have failed.”

Attorney General Kyam Maher thanked Commissioner Vanstone for her service over the last four years, and said recruitment of a new Commissioner would begin in coming weeks.

Tasmanian Integrity Commissioner cries poor

Commissioner Vanstone’s announcement on Tuesday came as her Tasmanian counterpart Greg Melick said the Tasmanian Integrity Commission didn’t have the resources it needs to properly oversight the state’s 40,000 public sector workers.

Responding to the Weiss Review into a disgraced former policeman found to have groomed young boys over three decades, Mr Melick said the role of the commission was to prevent and investigate public sector institutions, including police.

But he said the commission couldn’t provide the level of oversight recommended in the report.

“Ms Weiss has recommended we be given a range of powers, some of which we already possess. Importantly, we barely have the resources to exercise our existing powers as envisaged and expected by the Tasmanian Parliament and the public,” he said.

“We have the equivalent of less than 5 full-time employees in our Complaints and Oversight teams combined.

“As skilled and motivated as our staff are, it is not possible within our current resourcing to thoroughly oversight the some 40,000 or so public sector workers in Tasmania, including the over 1,400 police officers.”

The Commission of Inquiry into the Tasmanian Government’s Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Institutional Settings also recommended enhanced oversight of public sector institutions by the Integrity Commission, he noted.

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