Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker Scott, I begin, like others have begun their talks tonight, by congratulating you on your appointment. I wish you every success in doing your job to the best of your ability. Of course, this side of the House will always assist you in doing that. It is sad, Mr Deputy Speaker, that you would take your seat on a day when the government is moving to reduce the accountability of the executive to this chamber, accountability that has existed in this House since Federation.

Before I get to this, can I look at the record of this government to date. It goes to a pattern of behaviour. What is it that we know about the government so far? This is a classic example of the way that they operate. There is always a yawning gap between their rhetoric and the reality of the government’s actions. I might give a few examples before I go on to the substance of what we are discussing here tonight.

Exhibit A is community cabinet meetings. It was announced to big fanfare that the cabinet would now go out into the community, meet with real Australians and talk to them about their problems. But of course there is always this gap between what the government says and the reality of what actually happens on the ground. In January, the first of these community cabinet meetings occurred in Western Australia in the seat of Canning, held by my very good friend Don Randall. The cabinet trooped out there to meet with real Australians. They were saying that it gives Australians the opportunity to come in and talk directly to their new government. But what we saw was essentially a meeting of the Canning branch of the Australian Labor Party. People who attended were heavily vetted beforehand to make sure that they were the right kinds of people: ‘We did not really want anyone coming in to discuss their problems. We wanted to make sure that they were actually true believers.’ So what we saw was a talkfest with ALP members where the people who attended were strictly vetted. There was a yawning reality gap between what was proposed and what actually happened.

Exhibit B is parliament resuming before Christmas. The new Prime Minister made a big show of this when he was opposition leader. He said, ‘If we’re elected, the parliament will resume before Christmas.’ The reality was that it was extraordinarily difficult for that to occur because of the mechanics of an election. When the Prime Minister made this promise he would have been aware of that. What we find instead is that not only did we not resume before Christmas but this is the latest parliamentary start in over a decade. Again, there is a yawning gap between the reality and rhetoric.

Exhibit C came to light today. The government made a big show of the fact that they were going to alter the standing orders to make sure that ministers answered the questions in question time on any given day. They were upset that they felt the ministers in the former government did not take the time to answer the questions in a genuine way. So the Labor Party were going to change that by altering standing orders. Yet today we find another backflip. They are not going to alter the standing orders to require ministers to answer questions—another broken promise and another gap between what is said and what actually happens.

The final exhibit is the earnest words we hear about improving transparency and accountability while the government goes about pulling stunts like this. It is part of a pattern of behaviour, and this proposal conforms to that pattern. A big announcement is made: the parliament is going to work five days a week.

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