Corruption agency urged to boost whistleblower supports

Australia's embattled corruption commission will likely trial a new way of assessing complaints, but whistleblowers could be worse off as a result, a senator warns.

The National Anti-Corruption Commission, which deals with some of the most serious complaints against the federal government, has a 90-day target for assessing referrals.

In reality, the average time for assessing complex cases sits at about 200 days.

The corruption body, which Labor promised would be a well-functioning machine for cracking misconduct, was rocked by internal scandal and complaints before the resignation of former commissioner Paul Brereton earlier in 2026.

Mr Brereton was at the centre of two conflict-of-interest concerns during his time in the role.

The organisation he steered gained a reputation for being slow, taking more than two years to assess separate concerns from former Liberal senator Linda Reynolds and Greens senator Barbara Pocock.

Acting commissioner Kylie Kilgour has used her time in the role, which began in July and will end in October, to help reset the independent agency.

Consideration is being made of how to allow assessments to take longer under official commission standards, while still communicating with referrers to ensure they understand the system, Ms Kilgour told an inquiry on Friday.

Greens senator David Shoebridge warned a more drawn-out process would cause undue stress for whistleblowers without proper support.

"If you're taking on the tax department or you're taking on the defence department, or you're taking on another powerful government agency, it's incredibly distressing," he said.

"They're worrying about losing their career. They have trouble with their families. It's a fair chunk of whistleblowers who have that kind of stress."

He urged directors to consider increasing support staffing to help referrers through the process.

The commission had about 40 staff who worked with whistleblowers to let them know about the commission's process and another three employees trained to help "the most traumatised people" who come before the commission, Ms Kilgour said.

"There are a small number of people who have, in our interactions with them, expressed distress, trauma, concern," she said.