Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the Ministers of State Amendment Bill 2005 and in particular the amendment moved by the member for Wills. In doing so, I will probably emphasise the amendment in my contribution. The fact is—and the member for Banks has clearly outlined the concerns I have in the main—that there has been a recent decline in the principles of ministerial accountability. There is no doubt that since the election of the Howard government in 1996 there has been a change of heart by the Prime Minister and the government about the way in which it, as an executive government, wishes to handle breaches of ministerial responsibility and accountability, and this has led to a deep cynicism and scepticism in the community about the role of people in this place. That is a great shame.

As the member for Banks indicated, there has been a whole host of ministers since Federation who have resigned from the ministry. As I understand it, the first resignation that occurred was in 1903 by Charles Kingston. He did so as a result of a difference of opinion with the executive government on policy. There have been a number of ministers who have resigned on fundamental policy grounds in moments of conscience. It occurred in the period when prescription was being proposed and throughout our relatively brief history as a nation. There is no doubt, if you look at some of the resignations from the executive government of ministers who believed they were in breach, say, in the 1970s and 1980s, you would find what we would regard as technical breaches of Westminster principles of ministerial responsibility and, therefore, cause for their resignations, but some of them pale into insignificance when compared with the failure of ministers in the Howard government to take responsibility for such breaches.

See this speech in context