THE ACT Integrity Commission’s acting commissioner, former police watchdog boss Michael Adams, will continue on in the role after he was officially appointed the job today (April 22). 

Mr Adams stepped in as acting commissioner when the inaugural commissioner, Dennis Cowdroy, resigned in December.

Following a nationwide executive recruitment, ACT Legislative Assembly Speaker Joy Burch announced that Mr Adams will continue the work that the he and the commission has been doing.

Mr Adams was appointed Justice of the NSW Supreme Court in 1998, retiring from the court in 2017 to commence a three-year term as the inaugural chief commissioner of the NSW Law Enforcement Conduct Commission.

Before that, from 1998 to 2017 he was a Judge in the common law division of the Supreme Court of NSW, including in the Court of Criminal Appeal.

From 2005 to 2013, Mr Adams also contributed as a Judge in sessional sittings of the Solomon Islands Court of Appeal and was a Judge on the United Nations Dispute Tribunal from 2009 to 2010.

Mr Adams’ legal career began in 1970 as a legal officer in the Papua New Guinea Public Solicitor’s Office.