The first head of Australia’s national corruption watchdog rejects suggestions he should have been more transparent about connections with the defence establishment that led to his resignation.

But outgoing National Anti-Corruption Commissioner Paul Brereton has conceded the issue had become a distraction.

A day after announcing plans to step down in July after a turbulent three years as commissioner, Brereton told a Senate committee he did not need to give the government more details about his defence ties because it was like asking what church he attended.

During an at-times tense appearance before the inquiry, Brereton said questions about his ongoing work with the Inspector General of the Australian Defence Force – one of the agencies the National Anti-Corruption Commission had the power to investigate – had made it hard for the commission to get clear air.

“Every time the chief executive officer comes up here, he has to answer questions about me,” he said.

“The press attention is focused on me and my interests.”

Paul Brereton says he disclosed all he needed to about his work with the defence force. Photo: Mike Bowers

Pressed on whether he should have been more transparent about his ongoing work with the defence inspector-general, Brereton said he had declared all he needed to.

“I was transparent about having an ongoing affiliation with the IGADF, and that I would not be involved [in defence investigations],” he said.

“Neither the chief executive officer nor others needed to know more than that.

“Nor do they need to know whether I go to church on a Sunday, or if so, what church I go to, or whether I play cricket or rugby on a Saturday, and which brand of rugby it might be… the precise nature of what I am doing is beside the point.”

Greens Senator David Shoebridge accused Brereton of inappropriately conflating his religious affiliation with professional work.

“When you make a false comparison like that, treating apples with oranges, can you not see how that erodes trust in your decision making?” he said.

Brereton stepped away from all defence-related corruption referrals in 2025 to avoid any perceived conflict of interest, after revelations he was continuing to work with the IGADF as a consultant.

He said he had worked with the ADF inspector for less than 30 hours over three years.

A separate inquiry into the NACC’s decision not to follow up referrals from the royal commission into Robodebt found Brereton had engaged in officer misconduct because he failed to remove himself from the decision-making process despite being affected by apprehended bias.

After reconsidering its decision, the commission eventually found two public servants involved in the Robodebt scandal had engaged in serious corrupt conduct.

Brereton would not be drawn on questions about a second ongoing report into his conduct by the NACC inspector, but said he had been given draft versions and provided comments in response. He said the content of that report was “not at all material” in his decision to step down.

An external law firm had been brought in to help respond to the inspector’s draft report at a cost of $204,000, NACC chief executive Philip Reed said.

Brereton said the misconduct finding against him had struck fear into other officials at the corruption watchdog.

“We now have a commission in which staff are terrified of making any mistake of fact or law because they fear they will be visited with a finding of officer misconduct,” he said.

-AAP