Nick Greiner - ICAC Investigation and Resignation

ICAC Investigation and Resignation

Greiner and Environment Minister Tim Moore decided to offer Liberal-turned-independent MP Terry Metherell an executive position in the Environmental Protection Authority. If Metherell accepted the position, he would have to resign his parliamentary seat, which the Liberal Party was confident of winning in a by-election. While Metherell initially agreed to the position on 10 April 1992, it was criticised by Labor and the independents, and documents were ultimately released showing he had applied for a job in the Premier's Department and then been seconded to the EPA, and had applied after the closing date, but was appointed within hours of his application. Greiner was accused of misleading the parliament, and in late April, Labor and the independents passed a no-confidence motion in Greiner's leadership (though, critically, not against the government) in the Legislative Assembly. The pressure led to Greiner moving that the Assembly refer the matter to ICAC. The inquiry began on 5 May, and following detailed evidence by Metherell that his resignation was part of a package negotiated with Greiner and Moore and the release of Metherell's diaries, Greiner and minister Brad Hazzard admitted their statements to the inquiry were wrong. Greiner as a witness could not recall 20 key events under investigation, and the inquiry heard that the director-general appointed Metherell when it was discovered he could not legally be appointed to the EPA. On 19 June, ICAC commissioner Ian Temby concluded that while Greiner had not acted criminally and had not set out to be corrupt, he would be seen "by a notional jury as conducting himself contrary to known and recognised standards of honesty and integrity". Temby found strongest against Environment Minister Tim Moore, a friend of Metherell's who was central to the offer. However, the Commission did not recommend taking action against the two ministers, saying that this was properly the role of Parliament. Greiner focused on the words "honesty and integrity" and argued he was only "technically corrupt", but by 21 June, it was clear the independents would support a vote of no confidence in Greiner and Moore. Greiner lodged a case with New South Wales Court of Appeal and argued any such motions would breach natural justice while the appeal was being heard, but Labor and the independents argued that the Parliament was the body which should decide Greiner's future, and scheduled a vote for 24 June. The independents told Greiner that unless he resigned, they would withdraw their support from the government and support the no-confidence motion.Additionally, federal Opposition leader John Hewson and the state secretary of the Liberal Party urged him to go as the affair was damaging public support for the party, evidenced by a finding in a Saulwick poll that 59% of voters thought Greiner should resign. Accordingly, Greiner resigned, and was succeeded by John Fahey.

Greiner successfully appealed against the finding in the New South Wales Court of Appeal, which in a 2-1 vote on 21 August 1992 overturned the ICAC findings. The court found that ICAC had "exceeded its jurisdiction" in ruling against the two ministers and granted "declaratory relief that the Commission's report was wrong in law". Following the affair, a parliamentary committee inquiring into ICAC's powers in December 1992 recommended that Section 9 of the ICAC Act, on which the successful appeal was based, should be repealed as it was too narrow in defining corrupt conduct. While the section was not repealed, a sub-section was ultimately added in 1994 which addressed the behaviour of ministers and members of parliament, and gave legislative enforcement to ministerial and parliamentary codes of conduct.