Scott Morrison has fended off criticism of a proposed national integrity commission, warning against a NSW-style "kangaroo court" model with frequent public hearings.
The prime minister announced plans for the commission after months of calls from Labor and the crossbench for a federal anti-corruption watchdog.
While shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus believes NSW's ICAC is the blueprint the government should look to, Mr Morrison is fiercely opposed.
"I have lived through what has been the farce of the NSW ICAC," he told reporters in Brisbane on Friday.
He said his home state's anti-corruption body became a vehicle for corporations, bureaucrats and politicians to sling mud.
"That wasn't elevating or doing anything about improving public administration," Mr Morrison said.
Labor, crucial crossbench MPs and prominent barrister Bret Walker SC and have raised concerns about the commission's inability to hold public hearings for politicians and public servants accused of corruption.
Mr Dreyfus said the federal body should resemble NSW ICAC, which can hold public hearings and self-start inquiries.
"I think Australians don't want a secret tribunal," he told the ABC on Friday.
Mr Walker, a former Law Council of Australia president, said any body that did not report matters publicly when appropriate to do so would be "unquestionably" deficient.
"It looks like a model proposed by a government that's been dragged to it rather than come to it openly," Mr Walker told ABC radio on Friday.
Tasmanian independent MP Andrew Wilkie savaged the prime minister's plan as "fundamentally flawed and entirely unacceptable".
But Attorney-General Christian Porter said the commission would be a "serious investigative machine", with a bigger budget ($30 million a year) than Labor has suggested it would provide.
"Some of those that have criticised have been associated with bodies like NSW ICAC, who have had spectacular failures in their operation," he told reporters in Perth on Friday.
"What we want to do is avoid those type of failures."
The government is confident the crossbench will back the new authority, he added.
"I would be surprised given that they are enthusiastic for a body of this type, that they wouldn't see this...as a very, very, good approach to solving problems in this area."
The commission would prepare briefs of evidence for prosecutors, but not have the power to instigate its own investigations.
One part of the body will investigate corruption in law enforcement, which could face public hearings, while the other part would look at wrongdoing in the public sector.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has criticised the model, saying it is too limited in scope and lacks transparency.
Australian Associated Press
