Judge and former Labor MP to be new national integrity commissioner
Robert McClelland will have to restore public confidence in the NACC, which was established by Labor but has since been overshadowed by controversy.
McClelland has most recently served as deputy chief justice of the Federal Circuit and Family Court, a role to which he was appointed by former Coalition attorney-general Christian Porter in 2018. He was first appointed as a judge of the Family Court by then attorney-general George Brandis in 2015.
Before that, he was the Labor MP for the Sydney seat of Barton between 1996 and 2013, and the attorney-general in the Rudd and Gillard governments between 2007 and 2011. His father was a minister in the Whitlam government and his grandfather was a state Labor MP.
As the nation’s top legal officer, McClelland pushed to streamline regulation of Australia’s lawyers, strengthened discrimination laws and made changes to family law to better support families and children.
ASIC executive Christopher Savundra was appointed the NACC’s new deputy commissioner. Both will serve five-year terms, starting from January.
Rowland congratulated the pair on their appointments. “I have confidence in their ability to contribute to [the watchdog’s] important work to enhance integrity across the Commonwealth public sector,” she said in a statement.
