By Michaela Whitbourn
There is a certain predictability to the way scandals play out in Canberra.
If a government MP is up to their neck in it, a gleeful opposition will wheel out a shadow minister to make appalled noises about those awful Tories or lefties circling the trough.
But the major parties stop short of suggesting any real changes to the way MPs are held to account because they are equally likely to be sprung by it.
The usual players are sticking to the script as Sussan Ley steps aside as health minister pending an investigation into her taxpayer-funded travel.
Sussan Ley stood aside as Health Minister on Monday pending an investigation into her use of travel entitlements.Credit: Andrew Meares
Greens leader Richard Di Natale tweeted enthusiastically that the Ley controversy "proves the urgent need for a national anti-corruption watchdog".
Labor's Penny Wong said it was "weak" for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull not to sack Ley, which is exactly what the Coalition said when Sam "Dasher" Dastyari got himself in a spot of bother over Chinese donations.
And that's it, really. This is the last we will hear about the urgent need for an Independent Commission Against Corruption-style body in Canberra – until the next scandal, and the next tweet from the Greens.
Of course, there is a question about what a federal ICAC would do in any case. Would it investigate every alleged breach of MPs' entitlements or codes of conduct, which may fall well short of corruption?
Alleged rorting of ministerial entitlements would likely fall within the definition, although the NSW ICAC customarily has sunk its teeth into meatier scandals including Eddie Obeid's use of his public office to line his family's pockets.
Ley has come under fire for buying an $800,000 apartment during a taxpayer-funded trip to the Gold Coast in May 2015. She has said the purchase was "neither planned nor anticipated".
It has also been revealed that she has taken 27 flights in and out of the Gold Coast over recent years, including two trips over the New Year's Eve period.
Ley maintains she has not broken any rules but will stand aside while her use of travel entitlements is investigated by the head of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Martin Parkinson.
The advantage of an ICAC-style body to investigate such cases is that it is entirely independent of government.
The mere existence of such an agency is also likely to lift MPs' standards of behaviour – if only modestly – because nobody wants the ignominy of being hauled before an ICAC hearing.
Few know this better than Liberal Senator Arthur Sinodinos, who himself stood aside during an ICAC inquiry that is not expected to make a corruption finding against him. In a twist, he has now emerged the winner after he was appointed acting health minister.
The Ley saga is far from an Obeid-style scandal that would make a clear case for a federal ICAC.
But the major parties' reluctance to engage meaningfully in the debate about an anti-corruption style body speaks volumes about the need for it to be considered more carefully.