A national integrity commission is not only good for fighting corruption but will help the Australian economy, an inquiry has heard.
A Senate committee is exploring the idea of a national ICAC, as recent polls show a low level of voter trust in government and politicians and a strong belief there is corruption in federal politics.
The committee, which took evidence in Canberra on Friday, heard there were 26 bodies dealing with issues of integrity.
"(But) there does seem to be ... in particular, a gap in relation to systemic and serious corruption," Law Council of Australia member Gabrielle Bashir said.
The council has argued for a single, national, uniform, anti-corruption system to which members of the public can bring complaints of corruption, providing consistent coverage across the country.
The Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity deals with law enforcement agencies.
The Australian Public Service Commission has limited jurisdiction and under a new system would only deal with less serious allegations.
The Commonwealth Ombudsman deals with administration and the Auditor-General conducts audits of performance at a system or sector level, while the Australian Crime Commission and Australian Federal Police have their roles to play.
The Law Council's Greg Golding says corruption is an "inherently slippery concept" and the new commission will need to have a well-researched definition of "serious corruption" as a benchmark for its work.
Senate Clerk Richard Pye told the hearing there was also a gap in the system in terms of not having someone to provide ethics advice to members and senators.
"I'm in favour of the idea of senators and members having access to that ethical -type advice," Mr Pye said.
Asked whether appropriate checks were in place to deal with MP conflicts of interest, Mr Pye said the Senate could deal with "wilful disregard" to declare pecuniary interests by way of finding a senator in contempt.
"At the outer edge of penalties for contempt are fines and terms of imprisonment for six months, but you can't imagine that the Senate is likely to go down that path for a failure to declare interests properly, for instance," Mr Pye said.
He says the new independent parliamentary expenses authority will deal with issues to do with MP expenses in a more rigorous way.
The Australia Institute's Richard Denniss said there could be economic spin-offs for improving anti-corruption measures, as global investors saw Australia as a respectful, fair and just place to put their money.
"What if we just thought about the money - it is a tiny investment that has enormous benefits for us," he said.
The committee is due to report by August 15.
