Corruption investigators will soon be required to develop reporting deadlines amid consternation about the time taken to release findings about former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian.
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The findings from a wide-ranging inquiry into Ms Berejiklian and her former politician boyfriend are due on Thursday, some 605 days since public hearings ended.
Complex legal issues and copious submissions have caused the delay, the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has previously said.
Premier Chris Minns this week said he hoped Thursday's report fully explained the reasons for the delay.
But regardless, his government on Wednesday backed calls for ICAC to develop its own time standards and measure its performance against them.
That answered a recommendation from a 2022 parliamentary committee into various elements of the law governing the ICAC.
"(The changes) will increase transparency and public accountability of the ICAC's reporting functions without imposing inflexible restrictions on the ICAC," the government said.
The ICAC chief commissioner will be consulted about forcing it to respond to recommendations made by the ICAC inspector, which is the authority that handles complaints against it, the government also said.
The coalition opposition on Wednesday supported calls for deadlines on reporting, suggesting six months from the last public hearing was a good starting point.
"There's a consensus that it has been way too long (for the Berejiklian report)," shadow attorney-general Alister Henskens said.
"Six months, I would put as the absolute end of the scale of reasonableness."
Ms Berejiklian resigned as NSW premier in October 2021 after ICAC widened its investigation into her secret ex-boyfriend, disgraced former Liberal MP Daryl Maguire.
The inquiry had been examining whether the Wagga Wagga MP used his position in parliament to gain a financial benefit.
During public hearings, Ms Berejiklian revealed the pair had been in a clandestine relationship for about five years and described Mr Maguire as part of her "love circle".
That sparked a separate investigation into whether the former premier had breached public trust between 2012 and 2018 by failing to disclose the relationship and by improperly handling projects pursued by her former lover.
Ms Berejiklian, 52, has denied any wrongdoing and has since worked as managing director of enterprise and business at Optus.
Australian Associated Press
