When Labor won the 2022 election, integrity was front and centre. Three years later, the government has delivered significant institutional reforms that previous governments promised but never enacted. The National Anti-Corruption Commission is operational and actively investigating corruption across government, the politicised Administrative Appeals Tribunal has been replaced with a merit-based system, and major crackdowns on tax adviser misconduct and political donations are now law.

The government's flagship achievement was establishing the National Anti-Corruption Commission, which began operations on 1 July 2023. The NACC can investigate serious or systemic corrupt conduct across the entire Commonwealth public sector, including ministers, parliamentarians, public servants and contractors. As of August 2025, the commission is conducting 37 preliminary investigations and 37 corruption investigations, with 10 convictions secured since commencement. The body has broad powers including the ability to hold public hearings and investigate conduct that occurred before its establishment.

In October 2024, the government replaced the Administrative Appeals Tribunal with the Administrative Review Tribunal following evidence the AAT had become heavily politicised under the previous government. The new ART features transparent, merit-based appointments and received additional funding of $206.5 million over four years to address backlogs. All former AAT members were required to reapply under the new merit-based process.

Following the PwC tax leaks scandal, the government launched comprehensive reforms to tax integrity. Key measures included strengthening the Tax Practitioners Board's sanctions regime, providing $30 million in additional funding for compliance activities, and increasing maximum fines for tax exploitation from $7.8 million to $780 million.

The government introduced new codes of conduct for ministers and ministerial staff in July 2022. The ministerial code prohibits ministers from using blind trusts, requires divestment of business interests that could create conflicts, maintains the ban on sexual relationships with staff, and mandates public registration of private interests.

Electoral reform legislation passed in November 2024 represents the most significant changes to political donations and campaign finance in over 40 years. The reforms introduce real-time disclosure of political donations, reduce the disclosure threshold from $16,900 to $1,000, establish a $20,000 annual cap on donations from any single donor, and impose spending caps of $90 million for parties and $800,000 per electorate.

The government made initial improvements to public sector whistleblower protections through technical amendments in 2023. In September 2025, the government announced it would establish a Whistleblower Ombudsman to support public sector whistleblowers, with comprehensive reform of the Public Interest Disclosure Act ongoing.

The government's integrity agenda has delivered substantial institutional reforms that strengthen Australia's democratic framework. The NACC is actively investigating corruption with real powers and resources, the tribunal system has been depoliticised through merit-based appointments, tax adviser misconduct is being addressed through unprecedented penalties and regulatory oversight, and political donations will be subject to real-time public scrutiny with meaningful caps. These represent tangible improvements to government integrity and accountability.

Key achievements:

• National Anti-Corruption Commission operational since July 2023 with 74 active investigations and 10 convictions secured

• Administrative Review Tribunal replaced politicised AAT in October 2024, requiring all members to reapply through merit-based process

• Tax integrity reforms increased maximum fines from $7.8 million to $780 million following PwC scandal

• Electoral reform introducing real-time donation disclosure and caps on both donations ($20,000 per donor annually) and spending

• New ministerial code prohibiting blind trusts and requiring divestment of conflicted business interests