Watchdog's urgent call for new home

The former judge responsible for overseeing the State's corruption watchdog says he and his assistant are struggling to work effectively from "two dog-boxes" so small that confidential files are piled on the floor.

Michael Murray has asked for an increase in his funding to relocate his office away from the Department of the Attorney-General to underscore the independence of his role.

Mr Murray, the Parliamentary Inspector of the Corruption and Crime Commission, reported a 90 per cent increase in his workload in his latest annual report, which described his accommodation problems as "extreme".

A change in reporting standards by the CCC resulted in a big increase in allegations about its own officers referred to Mr Murray, from four in 2012-13 to 41 last financial year.

Mr Murray told _The West Australian _the office used by his assistant, Murray Alder, doubled as a storage facility for files that needed to be kept indefinitely under the secrecy provisions of the CCC Act.

"Those files, I found to my horror when I came (to the role in January 2013), were overflowing out of any storage cabinet that he had in his office and they're all over the floor and on top of the cabinet," Mr Murray said.

Mr Murray said his own office was so small that if he needed to meet more than one person he would have to hire a courtroom. It was inappropriate for people with complaints about the CCC to have to walk through the Department of the Attorney-General.

"There have certainly been people who have expressed serious concern about it and said, 'I thought you were supposed to be an independent agency'," he said.

Mr Murray said he hoped a "minimal increase" in his funding would be granted by Treasury in December's mid-year review of the Budget.

A spokeswoman for Attorney-General Michael Mischin said his department had been working with Mr Murray to secure appropriate accommodation.