The parliamentary committee charged with overseeing ICAC has called for legislative changes to allow for greater scrutiny of NSW's corruption watchdog.
"We need to restore public confidence in ICAC and ensure it is performing its role of investigating serious corruption as effectively and efficiently as possible," committee chair Damien Tudehope said in a statement on Tuesday.
"At the moment, there appears to be a lot of pain for very little gain, and it's not in the public interest to continue like that," he said.
The ICAC Inspector is currently unable to perform statutory functions to the fullest extent because commonwealth legislation prevents him/her accessing the telecommunications interception material used by ICAC in its investigations.
This limitation means the inspector was unable to fully examine whether the interception material was lawful, a report tabled by the parliamentary committee on Tuesday said.
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It recommended the NSW attorney-general write to the Commonwealth seeking a legislative amendment to allow integrity agencies to access intercept material for audit purposes.
The change means ICAC Inspector David Levine would have been able to access the Australian Crime Commission phone recordings which prompted ICAC's ill-fated investigation into crown prosecutor Margaret Cunneen before he delivered his scathing review of the process last year.
The committee also took aim at ICAC Commissioner Megan Latham's refusal to answer questions during committee hearings last year.
During the hearing, Ms Latham repeatedly told committee members questioning ICAC's decision to investigate particular matters did not fall within its remit because the ICAC Act does not allow it to ask those questions.
However, the committee said it did not accept the "narrow interpretation of the section".
"Crown Solicitor's advice confirms the committee can ask questions about particular conduct or investigations where they are for the purpose of reviewing the way in which the ICAC conducts its functions and its investigation and decision-making procedures," Mr Tudehope said.
The committee further recommended the NSW government ensure ICAC inspectors and assistant inspectors are recruited in a timely fashion to avoid any periods of vacancy in the positions.
