The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) investigates serious and/or systemic corrupt conduct involving Commonwealth public officials.
Commonwealth public officials
Public officials include many people who work for, exercise powers for, or provide services to the Australian Government and other Commonwealth companies and statutory bodies, or the Australian Parliament.
Commonwealth public officials include:
- staff members of Commonwealth agencies
- contracted service providers
- parliamentarians and their staff.
The NACC can only investigate matters relating to Commonwealth public officials. See What if we cannot investigate your issue?
Staff members of Commonwealth agencies
If an organisation is a Commonwealth agency, then the head of the agency, its employees, contractors and consultants are public officials under the NACC Act.
Examples of Commonwealth agencies are:
- departments of state and parliamentary departments – like the Attorney-General’s Department or the Department of Parliamentary Services
- other entities prescribed under the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 – like the Australian Taxation Office, the Australian Defence Force or the Australian Federal Police
- some bodies corporate established under Commonwealth legislation – like the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
- certain land councils namely the Anindilyakwa Land Council, Central Land Council, Northern Land Council and Tiwi Land Council.
- Commonwealth companies – like NBN Co – and their subsidiaries
- the High Court and other federal courts.
Under the NACC Act, the offices of parliamentarians are also Commonwealth agencies.
Most people who work for a Commonwealth agency are staff members of that agency for the purposes of the NACC’s jurisdiction. Only very limited exceptions apply.
Staff members of Commonwealth agencies include:
- agency heads
- employees of Commonwealth departments, Commonwealth companies and other statutory bodies
- secondees to Commonwealth agencies
- officers and employees of the federal courts and the High Court, excluding judges
- people who exercise powers or perform functions under various Commonwealth laws, and the groups listed below.
Contracted service providers
Any person who delivers goods and services under a Commonwealth contract either directly or indirectly (including subcontractors and their employees) is a public official under the NACC Act. This includes:
- a party to the contract, or a subcontractor, who is responsible for the provision of goods or services under the contract (contracted service provider)
- an officer or employee of a contracted service provider, who provides goods and services for the purposes (whether direct or indirect) of the contract.
Read more about how contracted service providers are within the jurisdiction of the Commission:
Parliamentarians and their staff
Parliamentarians, including ministers, are public officials under the NACC Act (s10).
People who work for parliamentarians, including consultants and volunteers, are also public officials. The parliamentarian they work for is considered to be their ‘agency head’.
Parliamentarians re-contesting elections are still parliamentarians during the election period (while the relevant House of Parliament is dissolved).
See: Parliamentarians and their staff: what the NACC means for you.
Who is not a public official
The following are not public officials under the NACC Act:
- judges
- the Governor-General and Deputy Governor-General
- a Royal Commissioner
- the Inspector of the NACC or a person assisting the Inspector
- foreign governments (including their contracted service providers).
It is important to remember that the NACC can investigate any person, even if they are not a public official, if they do something that might cause a public official to carry out their official role other than honestly or impartially.