National Anti-Corruption Commission

The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) is Australia's federal independent statutory body responsible for detecting, investigating, and preventing corrupt conduct across the Commonwealth public sector. Established under the National Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2022 (NACC Act), the Commission began operating on 1 July 2023, as commonly reported by government and legal sources, filling a long-debated gap in Australia's national integrity architecture that had previously left federal corruption oversight fragmented among agency-specific bodies and the Commonwealth Ombudsman. The NACC can investigate current and former Commonwealth public officials, parliamentarians, ministers, statutory office holders, and contractors performing work for the Commonwealth, and it can commence investigations on referral, on its own initiative, or in response to public complaints.^[1]

1 Definition of Corrupt Conduct

Section 8(1) of the NACC Act defines corrupt conduct broadly, capturing any conduct of any person, whether or not a public official, that adversely affects, or could adversely affect, either directly or indirectly, the honest or impartial exercise of a public official's powers or the honest or impartial performance of a public official's functions or duties. The definition further extends to conduct by a public official that involves a breach of public trust, an abuse of the person's office, or the misuse of information or documents obtained in an official capacity, whether or not that conduct would also constitute a criminal offence. This broad, conduct-based definition is deliberately wider than a narrow bribery-only concept, aligning the NACC's jurisdiction with the definitions used across Australian state Independent Commission Against Corruption bodies and reflecting the general distinction between grand and petty corruption that Australian integrity agencies have adopted in guidance material.^[2]

2 Referral Power

Rather than investigating every corruption issue itself, the NACC frequently exercises a referral power under subsection 41(1)(c) of the Act, sending a corruption issue to the Commonwealth agency most directly connected to the alleged conduct for that agency to investigate internally. This reflects a common design choice among national anti-corruption bodies: agencies often hold the specialist knowledge, records access, and operational context needed to investigate their own conduct efficiently, provided the process is conducted with sufficient independence and rigour. Heads of Commonwealth agencies are separately obliged to refer to the NACC any corruption issue they suspect could involve serious or systemic corrupt conduct, creating a two-way referral relationship between agencies and the Commission. See Conducting a Corruption Investigation for the investigative model agencies are expected to apply once a matter is referred to them.^[1][3]

3 Oversight and Direction of Referred Investigations

A referral under section 41 does not mean the NACC relinquishes control of a matter. Section 50 of the Act gives the Commission an ongoing oversight function over how a referred agency conducts its investigation, and section 51 grants the Commissioner an explicit power to direct the agency in relation to the investigation, including as to its scope, conduct, or particular steps to be taken. Together these powers create a hybrid investigative model in which the referred agency does the practical work of gathering evidence and reaching findings, but does so under active Commission supervision rather than as a purely self-regulated internal process. This distinguishes the Commonwealth model from an agency simply handling a complaint about its own staff without any external check.^[1]

4 Progress and Completion Reporting

Sections 52 to 54 of the NACC Act impose reporting obligations on agencies investigating a referred corruption issue. Paragraph 52(a) requires the agency to provide progress reports to the Commission from time to time as the investigation proceeds. Paragraph 52(b) requires a completion report once the investigation ends, setting out the findings reached, the evidence relied upon, and any action taken as a result. Section 53 allows the Commissioner to comment on the agency's handling of the matter or make recommendations arising from it, while section 54 provides an escalation pathway to the responsible Minister where the Commissioner is not satisfied that the agency's response has been adequate. This layered structure is designed to prevent referred matters from being under-resourced, delayed indefinitely, or quietly closed without appropriate scrutiny.^[1]

5 The 2026 Internal Investigations Guide

In July 2026 the NACC published Conducting internal investigations into corrupt conduct: A guide for Commonwealth agencies, a practical manual intended to help agency investigators apply a consistent, defensible methodology when handling matters referred to them under section 41 or identified internally. The guide sets out a five-step investigation model covering the development of an investigation plan, systematic evidence gathering, the application of procedural fairness to affected persons before findings are finalised, preparation of a reasoned investigation report, and finalisation of the matter through a completion report consistent with the section 52 reporting obligations. A full description of the five-step model appears at Conducting a Corruption Investigation.^[4]

6 Sources of Guidance

Rather than developing its investigative methodology from first principles, the NACC's 2026 guide draws explicitly on practice developed by longer-established Australian integrity and law enforcement bodies, including the Australian Federal Police, the Commonwealth Ombudsman, the Independent Commissioner Against Corruption (South Australia), and the New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption. This pattern of harmonisation is typical of newer national commissions, which frequently benefit from the accumulated investigative experience of state-level bodies that have operated for decades. See ICAC Family for the lineage and practical guides published by the NSW and South Australian commissions that the NACC's guide relies upon.^[4]

See also: Conducting a Corruption Investigation, ICAC Family, Procedural Fairness, Case Predication.

References

1. National Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2022 (Cth), ss.8, 41, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54.
2. National Anti-Corruption Commission, "Overview of the NACC," nacc.gov.au, accessed 2026.
3. Attorney-General's Department (Cth), "National Anti-Corruption Commission," ag.gov.au.
4. Commonwealth of Australia, National Anti-Corruption Commission, Conducting internal investigations into corrupt conduct: A guide for Commonwealth agencies (July 2026).