National Anti-Corruption Commissioner the Hon Paul Brereton AM RFD SC delivered this speech at a UNODC special event at the eleventh session of the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption (COSP11) on 19 December 2025 in Doha, Qatar.
Good morning your Excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen. It's my honour to join this distinguished panel, to discuss the positive impact of the UNCAC Implementation Review Mechanism (IRM) in shaping Australian domestic approaches to anti-corruption policy and legislative reform, and also how the IRM provides an important basis for generating technical assistance for other countries.
In my remarks, I think you will hear echoes of what has just been said by my Namibian colleague. It is instructive that two countries, far apart and with many differences, report similar experiences with the IRM.
The Australian experience
Australia completed its first cycle review in 2012 and published all information from it on our country profile. There were five recommendations.
Australia completed its second cycle review in 2018, and published the full report in 2022. The second cycle review made 13 recommendations. Australia has since provided two additional updates on its implementation of the recommendations.
These reviews and recommendations have resulted in significant reforms, enhancing our domestic legislation and policy. In particular, in relation to recommendations in the second cycle report:
in relation to recommendation 1, concerning the Open Government Partnership, Australia has this month completed our third National Action Plan under the Open Government Partnership, and is committed to developing its 4th National Action Plan. Under this, civil society will work with government to develop and implement strategies to promote open government, enhance accountability and strengthen integrity.
in relation to recommendation 2, concerning political financing, Australia has enacted the most significant reforms to our electoral laws in over 40 years, including:
reducing the threshold for disclosure of political donations
requiring real-time disclosure of donations during election periods, and ongoing monthly disclosure at all other times
reducing timeframes for lodging annual disclosure returns
introducing donation and expenditure caps
increasing public funding of election campaigns, in order to reduce reliance on donations.
in relation to recommendation 6, concerning the implementation of Article 12(4)/ Foreign Bribery, Australia has clarified the existing foreign bribery offence, increased penalties, and introduced a new corporate offence of failing to prevent foreign bribery. The Crimes Legislation Amendment (Combatting Foreign Bribery) Act 2024 came into effect on 8 September 2024
in relation to recommendation 7, concerning AML/CTF reforms, Australia has bolstered our anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regime. The Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Amendment Act 2024 was enacted on 29 November 2024.
Outstanding recommendations are the subject of ongoing consideration. For example, the government recently consulted on draft reforms to Australia's public sector whistleblower legislation, which will clarify and strengthen protections and expand remedies for whistleblowers, simplify the procedures for making and handling disclosures, and strengthen scrutiny and oversight of the system.
Our experience of the IRM is very positive. The IRM recommendations provided the impetus and rationale for these reforms. The reports provide a valuable resource for government. They provide an objective assessment of and insight into how a country's laws and policies align with UNCAC, and also where domestic legislation is not working optimally. They highlight shortfalls in legislation and policy, and potential reforms to address them.
Supporting technical assistance
The IRM also provides an important means for generating technical assistance for other countries. Through identifying the shortfalls that need to be addressed and providing recommendations, country reports make it much easier for countries like Australia that provide technical assistance to identify and deliver the most appropriate tailored and targeted support.
An illustration of this is through the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity, a regional arrangement launched in 2022 to enhance economic co-operation in the Indo-Pacific. One of the pillars of the framework is transparency, collaboration and capacity-building in anti-corruption and taxation. Partner countries aspire to progress the implementation of UNCAC, prevent international corruption and financial crimes, and improve tax administration.
Australia's fund for technical assistance and economic co-operation supports capacity-building projects to advance these objectives. Application of the fund is informed by UNODC's review of country reports, in order that gaps identified by the IRM are targeted.
Conclusion
And so Australia is an enthusiastic advocate of the IRM. We see it as a powerful tool to improve implementation of UNCAC, both domestically and though guiding technical assistance abroad. Country reports provide an objective assessment and insight of how domestic law and policy aligns with UNCAC. They identify gaps between domestic legislation and policy and convention standards.
Australia encourages all States Parties to embrace and participate in the IRM, and we propose that the next phase should include a comprehensive follow-up of recommendations made so far.
