Australian officials have been involved in confidential talks with the US aimed at heading off a formal trade dispute over the confiscation by NSW of US-owned assets worth $131 million. Unless the affair is resolved, Australia could come under pressure from the Trump administration to agree to international arbitration aimed ...

There is now no doubt that former NSW premier Barry O’Farrell relied upon a flawed ICAC report when his government destroyed private property worth several hundred million dollars. That wrong needs to be righted and the statement in parliament this week by fellow Liberal Peter Phelps will help. It has ...

The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption has been accused in state parliament of withholding exculpatory evidence that undermined the core of its corruption finding against jailed former Labor minister Ian Macdonald. The Liberal Party’s Peter Phelps told the state’s upper house this week that key parts of the exculpatory material ...

The following speech was given The Hon. Dr Peter Phelps in the Legislative Council of Parliament on 14 February 2018. The Hon. Dr PETER PHELPS (16:58): I congratulate the Treasurer and Premier for the excellent budget. However, I have concerns that, while appearing to be somewhat circuitous, potentially have hundreds of millions ...

The following speech was given The Hon. Dr Peter Phelps in the Legislative Council of Parliament on 13 February 2018. The Hon. Dr PETER PHELPS (17:04): I am not a member of the Committee on the Independent Commission Against Corruption [ICAC], but I commend its work and I commend the people ...

Much has been written in the past few years about free trade agreements. Most recently the federal government has taken a leadership position in concluding Trans Pacific Partnership Mark 2 (which is the old TPP without the US), and has been extolling its virtues. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop encouraged US President Donald ...

If Craig Ransley is right, the main reason he is not in prison is the change in approach that has taken place at the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption. ICAC found Mr Ransley corrupt in 2013 and later provided evidence to the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions that had been ...

A government that acts unjustly does not deserve its title. Nor should we condone a government that misleads its backbenchers. In January 2014, my colleagues and I were recalled to parliament by then premier Barry O’Farrell to enact the Mining Amendment (ICAC Operations Jasper and Acacia) Bill 2014. It proposed ...

This is not the first time the NSW anti-corruption agency has withheld exculpatory evidence. But it needs to be the last. It has now happened under two commissioners: David Ipp was in charge at the time Craig Ransley was caught up in the Acacia inquiry; and Megan Latham had replaced ...