Waleed Aly

how big a deal would that be?

Could he not just recuse himself, for example, for those sorts of referrals?

Does this take us in the direction of wondering why Brereton was appointed commissioner in the first place?

Nothing to do with his ability, but just because of the situation that he was inevitably in?

Coming up, does Brereton's resignation actually fix the NAC?

You've identified the conflict of interest as a major issue and the way that appointments have been made to the NAC.

Does Brereton's departure change any of that or fix any of those concerns?

Perhaps we should celebrate the fact we live in such a corruption-free country, Nick.

I mean, that's another way to look at it.

Yeah, I can barely laugh about it at this point.

You've mentioned some concerns with the appointments of commissioners and the way it was done.

I suppose that raises the question of the design of the NAC at the beginning of the whole process.

Do you see design flaws here that would need government or legislative intervention?

Not that many, actually.

Well, you mentioned the privacy and secrecy element of it.

As I recall, the argument for that was that the problem with...

public inquiries into corruption is that the minute you are investigated, the political damage is so severe that a judgment is rendered irrespective of whether or not you get cleared and that that would ultimately just be too damaging to public office holders who may not have done anything corrupt and that this would just be a totally unworkable situation.

You say you think they should fix that.

Do you mean making it all public or do you think there is still some room for private hearings to take place?

There'll be people in New South Wales who argue that, well, the problem you have with ICAC is it just swept everything up.