Michael McCormack supports Commonwealth Integrity Commission while critics warn of shortcomings

The Deputy Prime Minister said he wouldn't speculate on what his government's proposed Commonwealth Integrity Commission will look like when it is finalised at least six months from now.

"I don't want to start second guessing what that might be, or what processes it will take place, or how it might compare to other models," he said.

Mr McCormack said people in public office should be accountable, but dismissed an earlier model for a federal corruption body proposed by the Greens, which he said "represented a NSW ICAC-plus".

"We don't want to see a model by which people are dragged through a system, have their name put up in the public and then be found ... totally innocent, but because they've been put through a process by which they were judged by all and sundry, their name all of a sudden has this smear about it," he said.

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The Morrison government has committed $147 million for the commission, which will go through six months of public consultation and rely on cross-bench support in the Senate next year.

The proposed commission would be split into two bodies, with the more powerful arm to cover police and regulatory bodies like ASIC with the discretion to have public hearings.

The other half would cover public servants, politicians and their staff which would not be able to hold public hearings and could only launch inquiries if it suspected a criminal offence.

Former judge Stephen Charles QC said there was a "hypocrisy" about this aspect of the government's proposal.

"The parliamentarians are perfectly happy to have everyone else dealt with publicly, but when it comes to them, no," he said.

"If they had ... a unified body with all the powers they've presently given to the half that deals with law enforcement agencies, that would be a great deal better."

Mr Charles, who helped establish Victoria's Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission, said the integrity commission should also have the powers to act on information provided by whistleblowers.

Federal member for Indi Helen Haines, who introduced her own integrity commission bill to parliament last week, said such a body should not "have a separate rule for MPs".

"I fundamentally think there is a problem having two sets of rules for different people," Dr Haines said.

"We know that the Australian people want a strong, robust integrity commission so that trust can be restored in our parliament."