An escalating war of words between two NSW watchdogs over the state's police bugging scandal is threatening to tarnish the recruitment process for a new police commissioner.
Within weeks of the government announcing a successor to Andrew Scipione, the Crime Commission publicly released a scathing assessment of the Ombudsman's 900-page report into the long-running scandal.
Commissioner Peter Hastings QC dismissed the inquiry as "fundamentally defective", carrying "limited weight" and bearing findings that were "technically invalid and of no legal effect".
"The procedures adopted in the publication of the report have been flawed and many of the findings and recommendations are based upon errors of fact and/or law," he wrote in a 29-page reply.
Mr Hastings also claimed the process lacked procedural fairness.
The timing of the public spat is inopportune because the Ombudsman's report, which was released in December, criticised two high-profile contenders for the top job - Deputy Commissioner Catherine Burn and her former rival Nick Kaldas.
But Premier Gladys Berejiklian said it was timely for the public to be aware of the new material and assured an independent assessment panel working on the recruitment would be briefed.
"The public has to have the confidence that the process we've engaged has been fair and robust," she told reporters on Wednesday, resisting calls for the recruitment to be halted.
"Some would argue it's made the process fairer so that everybody feels they're getting a fair hearing during the process."
Acting NSW Ombudsman Professor John McMillan hit back in the afternoon with his own acerbic response to the commission's "unfounded and inflammatory claims".
"It is disturbing that the commission continues to refuse to acknowledge specifically the errors that occurred in the Mascot investigations and the commission's responsibility for many of those errors," Prof McMillan said in a 1300-word statement.
He defended the report as providing "a professional, detailed and balanced analysis of complex issues".
NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge, who was a deputy chair on two upper house inquiries into the bugging scandal, said the only responsible course of action was to pause the recruitment.
"The NSW government needs to take the time to properly digest this report," he told AAP.
"That can't be seriously done in a weekend."
Mr Shoebridge believed the commission's reply validated concerns previously raised by Mr Kaldas, who critiqued his own organisation.
"Now we know for certain his concerns were justified," he said.
Prof McMillan said he would comment "in full" on the commission's response in a special report after the appointment of a new commissioner.
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